Belgican Conflict: the 512th Joint Fighter wing flies again
by Draken04
Summary: The 512's downtime after liberating Malta has come to a close, they now find themselves reunited in a new theatre, in Belgica. With new comrades, and new conflicts, do the 512 have another successful campaign in them?
1. Chapter 1

**Author's note: This is the continuation of the 512's story. After finishing "Witches over Malta", I simply could not let go of the 512. This took a long time to write, perhaps too long, but I hope everyone who enjoyed "Malta" can enjoy this as well.**

* * *

Belgican port of Brugges, July 1944

Tui Gray of Kiwiland, and of the Brittanian Royal Airforce, leaned against the wall of a shipping container, looking out to sea, either side of her were her friends and close comrades, Veronica Keough and Crystal Olive. The short trip from Britannia was relatively safe, and easy. So much so, that they needed no downtime. Tui even declined the offer to tour the city; mostly because this was not their final destination. The three Britannia dispatched witches simply awaited at Brugges.

"So what are we waiting for again?" Veronica was getting impatient, and she fidgeted more and more. Like Tui, they wanted to head to the new airbase where they'd be assigned to their new unit. Something they'd all been eagerly anticipating

"Apparently it's a Carrier," Tui responded, "look for Fuso flags, I guess."

"Do we head south as soon as they arrive?" Crystal asked

"Yes. Puoyade and Rechkalov beat us to Florennes. They took the direct route, over the 502's base" Tui said

"So that leaves… The Fuso girl? And the sleepy Suomus?" Veronica asked, counting in her head.

"I love how you leave her out intentionally" Tui jabbed at Veronica.

"Yes, yes…" Veronica's face turned slightly redder at that, getting a giggle out of Crystal.

Veronica allowed herself to slip down the container they were leaning on, so that she was lying on the ground, resting her back against it. Her eyes seemed to be closing. Tui noticed this but gave no comment.

A few short moments after the Liberion had drifted off to sleep, Tui's keen eyes saw the horizon being broken.

She knew it was a vessel, and waited for it to get close before she woke up Veronica, lest she wake her up over a false alarm.

When it got close, Tui began to make out the outline…

She seemed completely flat, she had no island. And her hull seemed tiny.

"Those Fuso make the strangest ship designs" Tui muttered under her breath.

"Is that the one?" Crystal asked her. They were half whispering.

"I think so… strange as it looks."

"well it's no HMKLS Tui" Crystal joked.

"Not this again…" Tui sounded exasperated. Crystal giggled again.

Imperial Fuso Light Carrier Ryuujou soon docked, and the business that usually ensues, especially considering she's a carrier, followed her.

Somewhere within the hustle and bustle, her most precious cargo, the four young girls in their pristine military uniforms started to disembark.

Tui had left Crystal and Veronica, and drifted away close to Ryuujou on her own to meet the girls.

The first to meet her eyes was Akamatsu Atsuko. The Fuso rookie seemed completely changed. She no longer wore her sailor uniform, instead wearing a Fuso officer's jacket with matching peaked cap. She impressed her with how sure she looked, a far sight from the stuttering little girl who walked into the hangar at Comiso afraid of all the eyes on her.

The one who didn't change at all was the little puppy that followed close behind her. Eerika Lehtinen was almost stuck to the back of Akamatsu, as if hiding behind her. Some distance behind them was the familiar, professional striding Aztecan, Mattia Garcia. She was speaking to a tiny Fuso girl with short brown hair that only went down to her neck, and some of which was tied in two buns. While Garcia was talking to her, the little Witch didn't seem able to take her eyes off Atsuko.

She called out to them

"Akamatsu, Lehtinen!" Tui wasn't exactly shouting but she raised her voice slightly.

It caught their attention.

In unison they all saluted her.

"Flight Lieutenant Gray!" Atsuko called back, half smiling "Flying Officer Akamatsu Atsuko reporting from the Fuso Imperial Navy. Happy to return to your command"

Tui saluted her back "That hasn't been confirmed, Flying Officer. Good to see you again, Atsuko"

Tui was proud of how the little girl had grown. If this was Comiso she'd be stuttering and stammering. The life of an instructor seemed to have matured her quicker.

She then learnt of the new Witch's name. Sergeant Itou Madoka, apparently one of Atsuko's protégés. She greeted her warmly, welcoming her, before allowing idle chatter to take over. Tui almost felt as if she was showing off the strength of the bond of the 512 girls to Itou, and the beaming smile on Atsuko's face spurred her on in this.

When they got back to where Crystal and Veronica had been waiting, Mattie took two quick steps, to stand over the sleeping Veronica. She saluted Crystal before looking down at the Liberion with an expression mixing amusement and disapproval.

She spoke in a slightly higher voice.

"Sleeping on the job, huh Liberion?"

Veronica jolted awake and without skipping a beat replied "Just embracing my Inner Aztecan, Mattia" She gave a wry smile as she said this. Mattia playfully kicked her, before extending a hand to help her onto her feet. They shook hands and saluted afterwards, while Tui shook her head slowly, while smiling to herself.

* * *

Tui thanked her lucky stars Fernandia Minguzzi was already at Florennes.

The Belgican roads weren't the best, but they were manageable and Veronica's driving was mostly quite sane. She could be as fast and reckless as Fernandia, but she knew to be gentle on Tui's stomach. Making it to the base with no one throwing up made her want to give Veronica a medal.

The happiness was short lived when she saw Florennes Airbase.

It was decrepit.

Some buildings had no roof. Concrete slabs were on the ground in places they shouldn't. The hangars were rusted, and the runway was in dire need of repavement. It made her think of Supply planes landing, and how impossible that would be. She guessed Heinrike could make use of supply drops.

Tui didn't want to allow herself to get deflated. She looked around, with her friends at her side, she guessed they'd meet someone soon and that'd lead them to Heinrike's charges.

Her thinking was interrupted by the sound of an extremely loud engine.

A bright red motorcycle with a tiny rider streaked past them, cutting between the short distance between where she and Atsuko stood, before the rider skillfully did a quarter turn, stopping completely and kicking up an ungodly amount of mud. None of it got on Tui or Atsuko, but some distance away, Veronica was obviously spitting mud and pebbles that got into her teeth.

The rider was an extremely young looking girl, obviously a witch, she produced a pistol and aimed it at Tui "Who goes there?!"

"Flight Lieutenant Tui Gray, Royal Britannian Airforce. Is that how you greet a superior?!"

Atsuko noticed the patch on her shoulder, marking her as a Flying Officer. She was impressed Tui could notice and reply that fast.

The tiny witch got off her bike quickly, letting it fall on its side. She saluted. "I'm sorry! So sorry! Flying Officer Giovanna Ravelli, Regia Aeronautica and attached to the Belgican 3rd Airforce. Welcome to Florennes, Flight Lieautenant"

She then turned around, and exclaimed "No! Cara! I'm sorry" She shouted while picking up the bike and clearing the mud off its side.

Eerika laughed heartily. Atsuko was fighting back her laughter. Everyone else was in varying forms of disapproval and amusement.

Tui then returned to her usual formal, yet gentle voice.

"Flying Officer Ravelli, we're here to report to your Commanding Officer. Can you lead us to her?"

"Y…Yes, Follow me… this way, please"

Atsuko got a sense of Déjà vu and self-consciousness at seeing the little Romagnan witch stutter. The way she held up her bike as she led them and patted its side told her that this witch would be interesting. She certainly piqued her interest.

The door that she led them to was rotted in areas, and the hinges creaked. She knocked twice before being told to enter. The voice that they heard from inside filled some of them with familiarity and excitement, especially Tui.

Once inside, they were met by a familiar figure at the desk.

Karlsland uniform, long silver hair, eyepatch, and officer's hat; Heinrike Falkenhausen, commanding officer of the Belgican 3rd squadron and formerly commanding officer of the 512 joint fighter unit stood, fighting back a beaming smile and mostly failing to salute the visitors at her door.

Tui's excitement surprisingly got the better of her.

She beat Heinrike to speaking first, and spoke in a fast, almost giddy voice. "We're here to report, and return to your command, Captain Falkenhausen!"

Tui stood for a second, back straight, completely stiff, salute held, and a smile creeping on her face.

Heinrike simply stood, approached her.

"Well, you'll do no such thing, Tui"

All light left Tui's eyes when she heard this "What?"

"Flight Lieutenant Gray, you were made commanding officer of the 512th joint fighter wing, and I, as commanding officer of the 3rd Squadron of the Belgican Air component, welcome you and thank you for your support. The western wing of the airbase will be yours, and I will be transferring Flight Lieutenant Minguzzi back to your unit. Welcome to Belgica"

Tui's excitement returned to her face on hearing this, and her excited salute returned. "Yes, Captain!"

Tui then turned around to the girls, she now realized were her charges again

"Alright, ladies, you heard her. The 512 has been reinstated. Let's do everything we can to help Captain Falkenhausen and her squadron"

A childish high pitched scream was heard. Everyone's attention turned to the back of the newly reformed 512, where Itou Madoka stood.

"Umm… I'm sorry, I was just.. so happy…" her face turned crimson. Atsuko offered her a pat on the shoulder, while her gaze was lowered to the ground, and her face turned redder than Giovanna Ravelli's bike.

Tui smiled, and spoke out

"Captain, may we ask Flying Officer Ravelli to give us a tour of the base and lead us to the west wing?"

"Sure, but while she does, I'd like you to stay, Tui. You need to be filled in"

"Very well; Akamatsu, please fill me in later. I leave them in your care, Flying Officer Ravelli"

The little Romagnan saluted.

"Oh, and Giovanna" Heinrike started "Fernandia knows, I suggest you avoid her"

Giovanna looked terrified on hearing that, Atsuko wondered how someone could be terrified of Fer, but she let it go for now.

* * *

What Atsuko noticed, and she had no doubt others noticed as well, was that Giovanna's tour was mostly centered around buildings and facilities, and how Giovanna kept leading them to areas that were completely empty, and sometimes it even looked like that'd just been left by people moments ago. They had made it to the Garage where they kept their trucks, and Giovanna took the opportunity to park her bright red bike, before Crystal interrupted her.

"Umm, Flying Officer… We thank you very much for the tour but, why haven't we met any of your squad mates yet? Since we're sharing a base, could you introduce us?"

Giovanna's eyes immediately went to the floor. She started fidgeting, and shaking. She took the goggles she'd been wearing off her head, and started fiddling with the straps.

"Well… I… I think I'm not the best to… maybe…"

She was interrupted by an extremely loud yell.

"There you are! I knew you'd come back here! How dare you?! It's bad enough you keep that toy. You keep that luxury while the base is crumpling around us, but this! This is unacceptable!"

It was Fernandia Minguzzi, the witch who was notorious in Comiso for impromptu hugs, who had a very poor understanding of personal space, who always smiled childishly and spoke musically whenever she talked, while Heinrike did her best to rein her in and remain strict.

She was blinded, making a beeline for her young compatriot, Giovanna hid like a cornered mouse behind a truck and made an extremely poor attempt at words while all color seemed to be drained from her face, and her emerald green eyes were filling with tears.

"B…but… It has six, and I needed two… it still runs!"

"It's a Transport Truck. It's NECESSARY. Your toy isn't! We don't need it! If it breaks, let it break!"

"But… Cara…" Giovanna was all out crying now. Atsuko had surmised that Cara was the name she gave her motorcycle. Atsuko tried to rescue the witch, although the fact that she was saving her from a scolding, and not a hug seemed unbelievable to her.

"Flight Lieutenant Minguzzi. It's good to see you again. On Behalf of Flight Lieutenant Gray, we're happy to be in the care of the Belgican air component"

"Oh, Atsuko… hello" Fer seemed deflated, and slightly embarrassed as she greeted the young Fuso. "I'm sorry, but I have a serious problem to deal with. Welcome to Florennes, make yourselves at home" She returned her attention to Giovanna who crept to crouch in front of the Bike, as if protecting it.

"Flight Lieutenant… we're getting parts soon, I can't ask for parts for Cara but… we can for the Truck… I… please"

"Put the sparkplugs back in the truck! Heinrike's losing sleep making do with what little we have, and you're out playing with that thing. How dare you?!"

"I'm patrol…."

"You can patrol just fine with your Striker, or on foot, you don't need that thing!"

"That's enough, Fer!" The voice came from the garage door, in the daylight, the silhouetted figure left a long shadow on the garage floor.

It was Tui.

"Fer, you've been transferred back to the 512, second in command under me. Let the girl go. The issue with the Belgian Air component's vehicles is no longer your concern"

"Tui, you don't…"

"Heinrike told me everything. Leave her be."

Fer glared back at Giovanna as she left the garage, not saluting or greeting Tui in the process. Tui let out a long sigh afterwards.

Eerika leaned over and extended a hand to help Giovanna up, she was crouched and on the verge of tears.

"Stealing parts to fix your bike? No wonder she's mad" Eerika said, helping the young Romagnan up.

"She's… She's all I have…"

"Huh?" Eerika looked puzzled. Atsuko had approached, her own curiosity aroused.

"Cara… She… She's a gift from my father… She's the only friend I have…"

Eerika started to giggle. "The bike?! Your only friend? That's a joke ri…"

A hand clamped down on the young Suomus's mouth, shutting her up.

Atsuko, using all her strength to restrain Eerika and keep her mouth shut started speaking to Giovanna, who didn't seem to notice or care about Eerika's obvious ridicule.

"I can tell she's very dear to you" Atsuko's gentle smile as she talked belied the obvious effort she was putting into reining in the little struggling Suomus. "If you ever need to talk, feel free to find us. We'd be happy to listen to everything you have to say about her"

Giovanna's eyes glistened as she looked up at Atsuko, who despite being only slightly taller than her, seemed to tower over her. Giovanna looked like a wounded puppy accepting food from a kind stranger.

Tui interrupted the scene, speaking to Giovanna, which Atsuko took as her cue to let go of Eerika who bent over to gasp for air.

"Giovanna, Captain Falkenhausen told me of your issues. We'll try to help ourselves, and I'll personally try to make sure Fer understands, but this isn't a solution"

Giovanna simply pouted. Everyone there instantly saw the vulnerability of this little witch, and Atsuko's curiosity was piqued greatly.

That was when Veronica spoke out.

"Does anybody know where the hell Puoyade and Rechkalov are?! I know they're already here"

Giovanna perked up at that question. "Oh, I know who you mean, they arrived two days ago! Follow me!"

She darted out, pulling Atsuko's hand. The rest of the 512 followed, with Eerika yelling after her "Hey! Slow down! And let her go!"

* * *

Tui smacked her palm into her own face, and stood in silence.

Veronica looked like she was gonna laugh, but held it back out of respect for Tui, to the detriment of her face turning blood red. Atsuko and the others stood with expressions ranging from horrified to laughing heartily.

Two of the most professional witches in Comiso laid half naked on top of each other, on a bed, in a bunk in the barracks, a large number of Orussian Vodka bottles laid empty on the floor, and both were passed out with flushed faces.

"And I just had to be the damn CO. This mess has to be my problem. Veronica please, take your Webley out and shoot me. One bullet to the back of the head please" Tui was talking into her hand, still on her face.

"I must disobey that order, Flight Lieutenant" Veronica was dying to hold back her laughter. Atsuko was wondering if she was seeing things, but it seemed as though steam was actually rising from Tui's head

"When Rechkalov and Puoyade wake up and sober up, I want them informed of the reformation of the 512, and I want them told to answer to me. If they have a hangover, I want as many loud noises in this barracks as possible"

"Is that Orussian Vodka?!" Giovanna exclaimed "I've always wanted…"

"Touch it and you die" Tui half snarled at her.

Giovanna hid behind Atsuko, garnering angry glares from Eerika.

A few hours later, the entirety of the 512 stood before Tui, including a very angry Fer Minguzzi, a very scared Akamatsu Atsuko, a very disinterested Eerika Lehtinen, an extremely star struck Itou Madoka, an extremely hungover pairing of Renee Puoyade and Sam Rechkalov, who were woken up by the sound of a very mischievous Veronica Keough who held her revolver by the barrel and banged the grip against every hard surface she could reach as she followed them to the makeshift briefing room the 512 had cleared for themselves, which was originally a spare room of the Barracks that was surplus to the requirement of the small Joint Fighter Wing. Crystal rounded up the band Tui found herself in command of.

"Rechkalov, Puoyade… welcome back to the fighter wing. I'd like some explanation as to the sorry state I found the pair of you in"

Sam replied in a very groggy, low voice, obviously trying to avoid causing herself further pain.

"It was my fault… We got bored waiting for you to arrive, and I convinced Renee to drink with me. She was very reluctant, even if she is a terrible drunk"

Renee, who stood, looking towards the ground with half closed eyes also tried to reply. "I take responsibility for my own actions as well… It wouldn't have been as bad if the Belgicans just talked to us"

Tui Sighed, and simply dropped the issue.

"Well, we're here as guests of the 3rd Squadron of the Belgican Air Component. We're here to provide them with assistance and back them up while they rebuild Florennes. I want every witch here to be a shining example of the nation she represents. No matter how you're treated, you will treat our hosts with the utmost respect. Be the best witches and ambassadors you can be" Tui stamped as she finished her speech, and that caused Renee and Sam to reel. Tui didn't seem to care.

* * *

Still coming to grips with how the reformation of the 512 was shaping up, and dreading how much conflict she already saw in a mere few hours, Atsuko took to walking around Florennes to clear her head. First thing she noticed, was that she was being followed very indiscreetly by Eerika. It caused her to giggle and just leave her be. As much as she wanted to be alone, the scurrying sounds Eerika made as she failed miserably to sneak behind Atsuko were a small comfort.

Atsuko eventually got lost. As decrepit as Florennes was, it was still quite sizeable. Eventually she found herself in a hangar. She didn't see any of the 512's strikers, instead seeing a lot of Britannian Strikers with Belgican roundels. She assumed this was the 3rd Squadron's hangar. Her affinity for Britannian strikers took hold, and she recognized them; Spitfires, the older variant, not Griffon engined like Keough's, and Hurricanes, which surprised her, since event the very dogmatic Tui could not hold onto hers for lack of parts. There was another Spitfire Striker, with a person haunched over it. Atsuko heard furious wrenching, and assumed she was fixing it, she even heard some loud banging, and heard muttering. She assumed the person was a Belgican witch by her uniform.

Atsuko felt guilty for standing there while she worked furiously so she decided to walk over and offer help. She'd had to fix her Type Zero on her own a few times.

She stood behind the hunched over and frustrated witch, and introduced herself.

"Excuse me. Can I offer any help?"

The witch was startled and her wrench flew out of her hand and into the air, it landed an inch next to where Atsuko was standing, and she had to sidestep to avoid it falling on her head. Atsuko fervently apologized for startling her.

"I'm sorry I scared you! I just wanted to help" She saluted "Flying Officer Akamatsu Atsuko of the Fuso Imperial Navy and 512th Joint Fighter wing."

"Foreigner…" The Witch Atsuko was talking to, tall and with piercing blue eyes, and long blond hair that flowed to her waist, stood there staring down the smaller Fuso girl. Atsuko found her gaze equally strikingly beautiful and menacing. She walked towards Atsuko with a sure and steady stride, and a cold stare that could make anyone recoil. Atsuko instinctively took a step back.

The witch then bent over to pick up the wrench that sat on the floor where Atsuko was standing.

"I don't need help. Thank you"

She then went back to working on the striker in complete silence.

Atsuko, against her better judgement continued to talk "Well… we of the 512 want to help in any way we can. Please, don't you or any of the 3rd Squadron be afraid to ask, in fact we've already met your squadmate Giovanna and she…"

"Yes, the Romagnan with the pretty bike that they sent here because she was useless wherever else she was" The blond witch interrupted Atsuko not bothering to look up or even stop working, her back still to her. "All you foreigners are too little too late. Please, just leave us be"

Atsuko started to back away slowly, she began to raise her hand to salute, planning to turn away and run as soon as she could.

"Hey you can't talk to us like that! We're here to help!" It was Eerika's voice. Atsuko wanted the ground to open up and swallow them both at that point. Eerika's denseness was beginning to drain on her.

Eerika showed herself and began to try to stare down the much taller witch.

Before she could say anything, the Belgican spoke in a calm, monotone voice, so low you could hardly hear her, even in the empty hangar, and yet both Atsuko and Eerika heard it clearly, and it terrified them both.

"Help… do you know how many of us fell to Neuroi? How few supplies and weapons we got? How many times we had to fight Neuroi with nothing but faulty strikers, our magic and by ramming into them with our shields? And now you expect us to thank you for 'help'? You're all too little too late; The two Romagnans, the Karlslander with her pretty pet, and now all you jokers. Two of you didn't even manage to last two days without being passed out drunk. So no, Suomus, I'll speak to her and to you however I want. And for the record, I'm to be addressed as Flying Officer Jeanne Offenberg. Now please, let me fix my striker, which command refuses to send me parts for"

And with that she turned around, the argument now made final. Atsuko didn't even bother saying goodbye but simply shepherded Eerika out, pushing her whenever she felt Eerika had something to say.

Once outside, Atsuko doubled over, hands on her knees, breathing heavily.

Eerika suddenly started to go off "Who does she think she is?! We're all…"

"Eerika, please!" Atsuko would be yelling if she wasn't out of breath "There was no way that conversation could end well, now please be quiet before she hears you, and you make it worse"

Eerika blushed and fell silent. Atsuko heard footprints in the mud, normally she'd perk up to meet the person and salute, but she was still too shaken.

"umm…. Atsuko? Eerika?..." it was Giovanna. She was approaching timidly, rubbing her hands together, and approaching the paring. She seemed even more timid than usual, even more than in the garage with Fer towering over her.

"I… I should've warned you… the 3rd Squadron really don't like Witches from outside of Belgica, the ones sent by command. They… Don't like that we came this late and other places got witches… I'm sorry..."

"That's fine" Atsuko was doing her best to compose herself, eventually dusting off herself and standing upright. "I'm sure Flight Lieutenant Gray and Captain Falkenhausen will find a way for us to integrate well…"

She tried her best to sound sure and confident, but her doubt crept into her voice.

Eerika was pointing her gaze directly at Giovanna, who completely failed to notice, but stared at Atsuko, desperately seeking approval.

"So, they don't like you much either?" Eerika bluntly asked Giovanna

Giovanna fidgeted and shifted her feet before answering, still not taking her eye off Atsuko "no…no they don't"

"Well, we're not here to make friends. We're….." Atsuko's timid nature took hold briefly, but it detracted nothing from the determination on her face "We're here to defend this place. It's no different from Malta"

And with that Atsuko walked off, with Eerika in tow, like a puppy following its master. Atsuko noticed this and in two steps looked over her shoulder.

"Eerika, could you please spend time with Giovanna?"

Eerika was about to shout indignantly "Whaaaaaaaa..?"

"Please" as low as Atsuko's voice was, the desperation was felt, and this caused Eerika to back off.

She left them both and walked off, determinedly. After a few steps, and with her fighting tears in her eyes, she rounded a corner, leaned against a wall and allowed the tears to escape.

"It's so bad here! I miss Comiso" she said to herself, allowing herself to break down after the horrible encounter. She felt very sorry for Giovanna and for the Belgican witches, who hated their superiors and peers so much.

After a few seconds of tears, she felt a hand fall on her shoulder

"But it'll get better"

Atsuko heard Tui's voice, and didn't bother at all hiding how she felt, she let her tears out, beginning to sob.

Tui handed her a handkerchief which she accepted and used to dry her tears, and placed over her face to calm herself down.

* * *

Renee and Sam were desperately trying to find their way back to a comfortable bed. The headaches still refused to subside, and the base seemed to spin. Left and right had become abstract principles, and the sound of Veronica's gun hitting every wall from their room to the briefing room continued to echo in their heads.

Renee didn't want to make excuses for her behavior, but everyone knew Sam was to blame. Yet, the Orussian showed absolutely no remorse.

"We need more Vodka. Nothing beats a hangover like Vodka" Sam said while walking in her completely haphazard motion

"Do you never…ow!" Renee attempted to yell at Sam, forgetting how much raising her voice hurt her, but she was cut off by the feeling of a sledgehammer falling on her head, at the sound of her own voice.

"Don't yell, please…" Sam said to Renee infuriating her further.

Eventually, the pair found that they were completely lost, and both had almost given up completely on looking where they were going.

Eventually, they were stopped in their tracks. Sam heard a loud thud, and saw Renee on her backside in the Belgican moist mud. Across from her, in the same position was a tiny girl. She was wearing a characteristic Belgican uniform with two brown twintails falling onto her shoulders. Between them, what seemed like a clipboard with a now completely mud covered paper attached was on the ground.

Sam extended a hand to the Belgican witch, while Renee propped herself up.

"I'm Sorry…" Renee spoke to the young witch sincerely and surely, even despite the sledgehammers pounding at her skull "I wasn't looking where I was going"

She then bent over, picked up the clipboard and handed it to the Belgican.

"Thank you…" the young witch started "Oh no, it's covered in mud, Jeanne's gonna kill me…" She seemed deflated for a bit before her eyes opened wide and her face contorted into an angry look, while she pointed her finger at the Gallian

"I mean… this is your fault… you… I'll tell Jeanne about this! You'll learn to look where you're going, Foreigner"

Renee peeked over her hand, since she towered over her "Is that written in Gallian?" Renee asked "I'm Gallian, I can copy it up for you on a fresh piece of paper if you just give me an hour. Maybe that won't get you in as much trouble"

The Belgican started to stammer and stutter, before yelling out again

"N…no, these are Belgican secrets… You have no right to read them"

Her anger seemed to carry no conviction. Renee leaned in to talk to her, putting on a gentle face.

"Well, I can promise I won't tell anyone what I read, or you could meet Jeanne with that muddy document"

The Belgican handed over the document very warily

"My name is Remy Van Lierde. You better do this properly, ok?"

"Renee Puoyade and that's Sam Rechkalov. Nice to meet you, Remy"

* * *

Eerika and Giovanna were left standing together in an awkward silence. Eerika was worried sick about Atsuko, while Giovanna just fidgeted and paced about, she opened her mouth several times to say something but then retracted it. She was equal parts interested and afraid of Eerika.

That was when Eerika lifted both her arms in the air and yelled loudly "This sucks!"

Giovanna shrunk back further, keeping her eye on the Suomus witch in front of her

Eerika went on with her rant, kicking stones to exclaim every sentence

"This place stinks. Everyone is mean, even Fer, and now Atsuko is upset. This Sucks!"

Giovanna tried extending her hand, not knowing what to do with it, she didn't know whether she wanted to place it on Eerika's shoulder or just reach out to her, but the Suomus was scaring her. She ended up remaining quiet.

"I just want some food and to get some training. Maybe if I fly that Karlsland thing I can take my mind off all this."

Giovanna spoke up for the first time then, asking Eerika "Karlsland thing?"

"BF-109; They gave it to me to replace my Buffalo, Even though my Buffalo worked fine!" Eerika kicked a stone to punctuate how frustrated she was.

"B…but… the 109 is so much… better… I think..?" Giovanna was unsure of herself

"and how would you know, little Miss Race Bike?!" Eerika asked confrontationally

"Mika is… she seems so good with it"

Eerika started shouting louder

"Zursk?! The Night Witch?! Good? All she's good at is shadowing Fer and being everyone's pet!"

Giovanna shrunk even further, regretting saying anything.

A voice spoke up from the distance

"We have the same striker now? That's embarrassing"

Eerika looked towards the sound, to see it was the very witch whose name was mentioned.

"Hello, Night Witch" She greeted Zursk

"Hello, Suomus. Where's Atsuko?" Mika asked

"None of your business" Eerika almost snarled back

Giovanna started making small steps in Mika's direction, as if sneaking towards her.

"Gio, do you know Atsuko? Fuso witch, very pretty, more sensible than Suomus"

Giovanna started replying, shrinking and her voice decreasing as she did so

"She met Jeanne… it didn't go well, I don't know where she is"

Mika let out a huge sigh "was Suomus with her when it happened?"

Eerika spoke out defiantly "I was! I gave the blond a piece of my mind!"

"Great job, Suomus. She was probably doing her best to make peace with Jeanne and you ruined it" Mika said accusingly. "and I was hoping if anyone was gonna get to her it'd be Atsuko. Oh well, there's always Tui"

Eerika was seething, obviously defeated.

"Atsuko's probably upset now. Jeanne is the worst out of all of them. Heinrike's been trying to turn her around since she arrived, but she just won't listen. She might be a bit bitter since if Heinrike hadn't transferred over, she might have been in command of the 3rd Squadron. Even though she's only Flying Officer" Mika was nonchalantly talking to Eerika. She was calm, and talking in an offhand manner, completely oblivious to Eerika's angry glare.

"Don't mind Suomus, Gio" Mika went on "She's usually really nice, and she just cares for Atsuko too much. As soon as she sees her master, the puppy will calm down"

Eerika got so angry on hearing that, her familiar actually materialized. "You're the same with Heinrike!" she shouted loudly

Mika smiled at her as she turned to walk away. "yes, I am"

* * *

Crystal, Veronica and Mattia found themselves separated from everyone else. Veronica was still stupidly grinning at being given the green light to torment the hung over pairing of Sam and Renee. Crystal just looked at her amused.

"Yes, you had your fun. They looked like they wanted to kill themselves in briefing. Now can you be a little less smug?" Crystal half-chastised Veronica with a smile on her face

"Give me a few hours, the high will wear off. It was especially fun looking at their heads sink every time I hit a wall. Even if they get me back, it was so worth it"

"I'm not backing you up if they try to get you back" Mattia replied to her disapprovingly

"As if I need you, Aztecan. I can….."

Veronica fell completely silent midsentence and seemed like she was listening intently for something.

"You can what?" Mattia asked her, curious

Veronica then violently shushed her "do you hear that?" She whispered

When Mattia and Crystal obeyed Veronica and listened intently, they heard two people conversing.

"It's coming from over that way" Crystal whispered.

The trio followed the sound, finding what seemed to be a very difficult to reach area of the base, between two buildings. It was shaded and seemed to allow a fairly strong breeze through. Two girls sat there, close to each other; very close. One seemed to be paying too much attention to the other, while the other seemed lost in thought.

"Jeanne's really upset with the new witches… she's going on about foreigners again" The taller of the two girls was saying. She had a long brown ponytail and two locks that fell to her cheeks. She seemed almost completely distracted as she talked, as if her mind was completely elsewhere.

"Well, they come here now, set up shop in our base, and suddenly we're supposed to thank them? And what's with that so called commanding officer?! What right does she have to command us? Does she even know anything about Belgica?" the shorter witch was talking now. She had light brown hair, tied into two braids, with short bangs covering her forehead, and wore glasses. She was intently looking at the other witch as she talked. They both wore Belgican uniforms.

"But, Francine, they don't seem all bad. I think they really care, they seem like they'd be interesting if we got to know them"

"Interesting? Are you interested in them, Victorique?! You're interested aren't you? Has that Karlslander seduced you? Don't you care about me anymore?!"

Victorique just giggled on hearing that, and touched one of the younger-looking witch's braids. "Oh, Francine, being silly like always"

Francine blushed on hearing that, and having her hair touched by Victorique. "hmph… it's not like I'm afraid to lose you or anything" she seemed to look away from the older witch, but not putting enough distance between them so as to keep her hair within reach of the older witch

"Don't worry, big sis isn't going anywhere"

Francine's eyes sparkled on hearing that, but her words belied the obvious happiness on her face

"Well… you better not. You won't find a better wing-witch than me! I'm Francine Auguste after all"

Veronica, Mattia and Crystal were hidden, overhearing the exchange when Veronica turned to the other two witches, made a face of disgust and said "I think I'm gonna gag"

Crystal fought hard to keep from laughing loudly

"you're just jealous you don't have a big sis too"

Veronica was looking at the other two, with a look of annoyance when they heard a loud shout "Who's there?!"

Everyone besides Veronica, who was completely caught unawares, briskly walked away to safety, leaving the Liberion to be ambushed by Francine, who stared her down and started shouting loudly "You?! You peep! Pervert! How long have you been there, tell me!"

While Veronica was caught like a deer in the headlights, the other witch walked towards her, with a beaming smile, and closed eyes. Her voice was gentle and full of kindness

"Oh, hello. Don't be shy. You can join us if you want. My name is Victorique Ortmans, and this is my dear friend Francine Auguste. Are you one of the new arrivals?"

Veronica was shocked by the massive gap in response, and decided to speak to the kinder Victorique, hoping Francine wouldn't attack her if she did so.

"umm… yes, hello. My name is Veronica Keough, I'm with the 512 JFW. It's… nice to meet you two"

"But… Big sis! She was peeping!"

"Oh, I'm sure she meant no harm, Francine. I'm happy to finally meet one of the 512, Veronica. If you need anything please ask me. I'm very interested in foreign witches"

"Victorique! What would Jeanne think?!"

Victorique placed a finger over her lips and winked at Francine. "Jeanne doesn't need to know, and if she does. I'm sure we can make her understand. Besides, our commanding officer is Heinrike"

"But… But…" Francine was stammering.

"Very nice meeting you, Veronica" Victorique interrupted

"Same here…" Veronica didn't know if she meant it or not. The situation was unreal, and she still felt paralyzed

"Come along, Francine. We should report to Heinrike anyway" said Victorique, ushering Francine to join her like a puppy

Francine lagged behind, coming close to Veronica and whispered to her "come near Victorique, and there'll be hell to pay" she then raised her voice to talk to Victorique "coming, big sis"

* * *

Tui stood, arms crossed in the makeshift briefing room the 512 set up. She'd told the witches she expected them to meet there before lights out, and everyone was late, save for Atsuko who stood next to her, and Madoka who hadn't strayed too far in the first place. Atsuko stood at attention, instinctively, and it was becoming uncomfortable for her, even though she knew Tui wouldn't object to her relaxing her stance or even sitting down.

Tui eventually spoke up, in a disgruntled voice "They're late".

"Well, it's a new base, Flight Lieutenant, I'm sure they just got lost or something…"

"All of them, Akamatsu? They'd never do this with Heinrike. They think I'm too lax"

"That's not true!" Atsuko blurted out, almost shouting. "Everyone respects you. And… please don't mind Eerika. She was like that even with Heinrike"

Tui closed her eyes, and laughed softly on hearing that. "Well, I'll still have to do something about this. Even Flying Officer Lehtinen will have to answer, I'm sorry to say, Atsuko"

"O….ok" Atsuko replied defeated, part of her was selfishly happy and proud she was there on time… even if the fact that she was with Tui half the day was part of the reason.

Renee and Sam were the first to walk in. They seemed in much higher spirits, the hangover obviously gone. Renee was the first to salute and apologize for their tardiness.

"Was there a reason you were late?" Tui was strict and piercing with her questioning.

"I don't mean to offer excuses, but we were sidetracked helping a 3rd squadron member with a matter concerning them"

Tui and Atsuko's eyes widened.

"What? Who? Tui asked.

"Her name was Flying Officer Remy Van Lierde. I apologize but we would rather not divulge the matter she needed help with" Renee replied

"Well, I won't ask then. I trust your judgment, Renee".

A short period later, the trio of Mattia, Crystal, and Veronica walked in. Veronica was red faced, the other two were smiling. Mattia seemed like she was fighting back laughing heartily.

Tui attacked them instantly. "You're late! And it looks like you were having fun. Care to tell me what kept you three?"

Mattia instantly spoke up "Veronica was busy peeping"

Atsuko doubled over. She struggled not to laugh out loud, and was afraid she'd offend Tui. Sam did not even bother trying to act reserved. She laughed loudly, leaning against a wall to hold herself up. Everyone else was in various levels of amusement.

"Shut up, Aztecan!" Veronica shouted.

Tui seemed like she was immune to this, asking Veronica directly. "What happened?"

"We met two members of the 3rd squadron. We talked and lost track of time"

Crystal interrupted. "She interrupted their special time and was yelled at"

Veronica's face went beet red. "The little one is insane! And Victorique didn't yell at me"

"Alright, that's enough!" Tui shouted. "3rd squadron again, huh? Well I can't be too upset, if you're getting acquainted with them. It's better we increase familiarity with them"

Eerika was the last to step in. She didn't salute, and didn't greet Tui

"Atsuko! Where were you! I met the night witch. She's gotten more annoying"

"Lehtinen, you can at least salute!"

Eerika gave a halfhearted sloppy salute, talking to Tui as she did that

"I met Mika, Tui. I was with her and Miss Race bike. We were talking about this witch called Jeanne and she's really mean. You should go and knock some sense into her, tell her we're here to help"

Tui shook her head amusedly. "I'll just assume you were with 3rd squadron too. I'll pardon everyone this time. I won't accept you being late afterwards"

"So that just leaves Flight Lieutenant Minguzzi? Crystal asked"

"Fernandia won't be joining us tonight. She's preparing some documents I need. Anyway, I've spoken to Heinrike and Fer today. This is the dynamic we'll be adhering to…"

Atsuko smiled as Tui went into details. It seemed like not all the witches were as adamant as Jeanne. She hoped they would all come around during the 512's stay.

* * *

Flying officer Remy Van Lierde walked into the commanding officer, Heinrike Falkenhausen's office clipboard in hand. Attached to it was a pristine white paper, with the full list of 3rd squadron's assets, supplies, vehicles, weapons and ammo orders freshly written on it. She hoped Jeanne wouldn't notice the change in penmanship.

Flying Officer Jeanne Marie Offenberg was in the office, while Falkenhausen was not. She had a tired look on her face, leaning against the large wooden desk. Her eyes were low to the ground, and she seemed completely lost in thought. Remy's knock caught her attention.

"Jeanne? I have what you wanted. This is all we'll need, I think"

"Hello, Remy" Jeanne sounded as defeated as Remy always remembered. Of all the witches of the 3rd squadron, she was the oldest one there. She could speak of a time when Florennes was a top rank military base, and not the decrepit set of buildings it was now.

She extended her hand to take the clipboard from Remy.

She looked through the few pages she saw, reading over every line thoroughly. She then lowered the document and sighed heavily. This slightly scared Remy.

"Jeanne? Is something wrong?" Remy asked.

"Not really. We barely ever get a tenth of what we ordered. Good work on this, anyway. Maybe command will grow a conscience"

Remy didn't reply. She respected Jeanne above almost anyone, and wanted more than anything to cheer her up, but she knew she'd seen too much and had suffered too much to smile anytime soon. It saddened her.

"Oh, Remy. Your penmanship has improved. It's improved a lot"

That comment stopped Remy dead. She was scared stiff. "Oh… well… I've been practicing! I've… I wanted it to look good for you… so…"

"Who copied it for you after you dropped it in the mud?" Jeanne asked calmly, she looked down on the much smaller Remy, who she easily towered over.

Jeanne's eyes captured anyone she looked upon. Either you admired their beauty, or you were terrified by the icy serious glare they could carry.

Remy felt completely frozen in place by the latter.

"Her name is Renee…" Remy could not even attempt to lie. She replied with tears in her eyes.

"one of the foreigners…" Jeanne half whispered. Remy knew that low voice. Jeanne did not yell or abuse, she simply spoke in that voice, and it terrified everyone in the 3rd squadron. Even Victorique who was almost unflappable tiptoed around her when she was like this.

"So now the foreigners won't just point and laugh at us at our poor facilities, they'll know in detail how little command cares about us, when they know how little of what we want they're prepared to send us. Excellent work, Remy; how did this even fall in the mud?"

"How did you know?" Remy asked, the tears were streaming now.

"There's mud in the clip. You didn't even bother to clean it thoroughly"

Remy began to stutter and stammer "I'm… I'm so…"

"That's enough, Jeanne" It was a voice from outside the room.

Captain Heinrike Falkenhausen walked in. Remy struggled to salute, because of how shaken she was. Jeanne saluted begrudgingly.

"These girls are professionals, and each of them has served in horrible conditions. They know too well how difficult it is dealing with supply shortages" Heinrike said to Jeanne, challenging her sternly.

Jeanne did not reply, but simply stared at her. She seemed infuriated at how Heinrike was the only person who could not be broken down by her icy glare.

"Remy. The document was your responsibility. You had no right to offload that responsibility onto anyone else. I'm sorry, but you need to be reprimanded for this"

Remy nodded almost thankfully. It seemed as though any punishment was better for her than Jeanne's stare.

"And Jeanne, I want you to understand Flying Officer Puoyade did this out of kindness. I even doubt she'll speak about it to anyone. I'm not demanding you say thank you, but at least don't treat them like enemies"

"Yes, Ma'am. I'll do my best not to speak ill about your unit" Jeanne said, in a cold cynical voice.

"My unit is the 3rd squadron, Jeanne"

"I'm sure you have our…best interests… in mind" The pauses in Jeanne's sentence seemed to carry more venom than they should, but Heinrike ignored her.

"Well, I spoke to Flight Lieutenant Gray, and we're arranging a mock battle between the two units in tomorrow's training. See then if your isolationist ideals are working, Jeanne"

"Looking forward to it, Captain. I doubt they can outperform a cohesive unit made up of witches of the same nation" Jeanne replied.

"Still refusing to acknowledge Giovanna, I see, or Mika"

"She can ride her bike around while the proper Belgicans fight, and the little karlslander can just stay out of the way."

Heinrike sighed. She dismissed the two witches, slumping into her deskchair as they left.

"Maybe I should've taken Tui's offer, and commanded the 512 again" She whispered to herself as she rested her head on her hands.

She slightly regretted arranging the mock battle.

She had a plan though and if she and Tui succeded, Jeanne and the others would understand how toxic their mentality was.


	2. Chapter 2

It had only been a day in Florennes, and Tui was already feeling anxious. She wanted more than anything to just have the newly re-formed 512 just perform drills, re familiarize themselves with each other, reform old tactics, and form new ones, and slowly build up her confidence in them and in herself as commander.

Heinrike threw a wrench in those plans.

She was adamant the 512 and 3rd squadron should have a practice dogfight.

Tui understood the point of facing off the squadrons against each other, but she was afraid that throwing the 512 into conflict so soon would undermine the whole point of the exercise. She wasn't aware how good or cohesive the 3rd squadron actually was, and she was afraid the Belgicans would simply become vindicated in their isolationist mentality.

She eventually relented, and on only the Second day of the 512th reformation, they would face off against another squadron.

Not all of them though.

Six witches would fly the flag for the 3rd squadron; Jeanne Offenberg, the stubborn, jaded and infinitely beautiful talisman with her Spitfire striker, Remy Van Lierde, the young shadow to Jeanne, flying her Hurricane striker. Looking at the old thing made Tui feel a sudden pang of nostalgia, but it also made her realize how obsolete the weapons they carried were. She felt even sorrier for the Belgicans. Victorique Ortmans had her Liberion built Martlet striker. Brittania had used those previous, renaming it Martlet form its original name, Wildcat. It was a hand-me-down handed down. Rounding up the Belgicans was Francine Auguste with an even older Spitfire than Jeanne's the Mk.I

Among the Belgicans were the two Foreigners, Mika Zursk, former 512 with her Karlsland BF-109 and Giovanna Ravelli, the Romagnan with her MC205.

Ryuujou had brought many parts and supplies for the Belgicans with her, it was nowhere near what they wanted, or needed but it was enough that the strikers were at their most presentable in a long time. Even if they were obsolete compared to the 512's, this could still be a fair fight.

Tui decided to match numbers with the 3rd squadron; she elected 6 witches to face Heinrike's charges.

The most senior witches she'd allow to fly were Mattia Garcia, with her P-47, Renee Puoyade with a striker she'd only received after Liberating Malta, the Yak-3, and Sam Rechkalov with another new striker, a P-63, which looked mostly identical to her old P-39.

Alongside them were the Raiden equipped pairing of Akamatsu Atsuko and Itou Madoka, with Eerika Lehtinen rounding up the selection.

Tui, Crystal, Veronica, and Fernandia would be grounded for this battle. They stood next to Heinrike as the combatants prepared to launch.

"Are you sure it's ok cutting out most your senior witches?" Heinrike asked Tui.

"This is about training. I want to shore up my weakest links first" Tui replied stubbornly.

Heinrike was partially pleased that Tui adamantly stuck to her own philosophy and choices but was afraid of losing control of the 3rd squadron if they walked all over the 512.

Even Heinrike could not predict how the 3rd would perform. They had been wildly inconsistent in training since she'd arrived. It was partially because of their strikers, but mostly because of Jeanne. Her influence on them was simply unmatched.

Heinrike decided on the rules of engagement. The two groups would fly away from each other for a period of time, and then double back, in formation, guns blazing.

A short time after they took off, Heinrike removed her eye patch to follow the two groups using her magic eye.

The 3rd flew a Finger four formation. Jeanne was Flight lead, with Remy as her Wingman; Victorique was Element lead, with Francine as her wingman. Mika and Giovanna flew top cover, some distance above the finger four. Heinrike knew the truth though. They were simply ignored and flew top cover of their own volition.

The 512 was much more cohesive. They flew in two groups of three. Atsuko was flanked either side by Eerika and Madoka while Mattia was flanked either side by Sam and Renee.

The superior climbing strikers of the 512 meant that they were much higher than their rivals. Atsuko's flight dove first. The Raidens she and Madoka used were well matched in a dive with Eerika's 109, and they aimed for the top cover of Giovanna and Mika, not realizing how detached they actually were from the Finger four they supposedly covered.

They reacted instantly, diving to fall beneath the Finger Four. The Belgicans broke. Jeanne and Remy went left, while Victorique and Francine went right.

Victorique followed the diving trio, trying to land hits on Eerika or Madoka who lagged behind Atsuko.

She tunnelvisioned, and became oblivious to her surroundings. She didn't realize Jeanne and Remy were far away, and Mika and Giovanna were too deep into their dive to be any help.

The second pairing dived on them easily. Mattia scored hits on Francine, while Renee coiled around to protect her from Victorique who attempted to retaliate. Renee had all the advantage and speed. Victorique simply could not score hits on her as she maneuvered well enough to hit her. She went out with her partner. They both raised their hands to admit defeat and landed, dejected.

It was Four versus Six now. The 512 were performing as one unit.

Jeanne and Remy showed no sign of backing away, despite losing their comrades. They turned around and headed straight for the 512 who were still relatively low after vanquishing Victorique and Francine.

Atsuko was surprised why they wouldn't wait for Giovanna and Mika to gain altitude and cover them. Either way, she decided to stay low and continue to build speed along with Madoka and Eerika, dragging Jeanne with them.

Right on cue, with Jeanne giving chase, she heard the practice guns firing. She continued to run, and attempted to climb to gain altitude. As she did, she looked behind her.

She was shocked. Renee and Mattia were both taken out, caught unawares by Jeanne and Remy turning around, and firing back at them after it seemed they had the drop on them. They headed back to land leaving Sam alone, firing wildly, trying to take either of them out. Despite being an excellent marksman, the two belgicans were simply too nimble, they dodged every shot of her huge practice gun, which simulated her 37mm. She eventually fell too, her position was too awkward as all the abilities of her P-63 were negated.

Suddenly the advantage seemed to swing in the 3rd squadron's favor.

It was four versus three.

Atsuko gave a signal to Madoka, and her student instantly understood. She broke off, leaving Atsuko and Eerika alone.

Tui admired the idea. She knew Atsuko wanted top cover, and trusted Madoka to give her that.

Madoka and Eerika braved the pairing, relying on their steep diving angles, each one picking a target. Atsuko fired at Jeanne and Eerika fired at Remy.

Atsuko missed, Eerika did not. Remy had tears in her eyes, and broke off the conflict, sobbing.

She was bitterly disappointed in leaving Jeanne to fend for herself.

Atsuko and Eerika felt rounds whizz past their faces. It was Giovanna and Mika, finally able to be a part of the action, having been left out for most of it. Atsuko and Eerika attempted to dive and dodge, but the 3rd Squadron pairing had all the advantages, speed and altitude.

That was when Mika was taken out. Madoka showed up almost out of nowhere, dispatching her instantly.

Atsuko expected Giovanna to follow.

Something amazing happened right then.

Giovanna pulled upwards and spiraled, killing all her speed. After a spiral, she dived down heavily, and pirouetted, somewhere in that maneuver, she fired at Madoka.

She had no right to get anywhere near the young Fuso doing that, but she did. In fact, Madoka flew the Raiden to its very limit to avoid the Romagnan's shots. Soon enough, with both of them pushing their strikers to their very limits, they broke away from the remaining witches.

Atsuko and Eerika decided to leave them be and chase Jeanne.

She waited for them to dive on her, utilizing her marksmanship and abilities, jinking every which way, firing on them as they streaked back, her shots coming dangerously close each time.

Eerika and Atsuko took turns, diving on her, trying to get that last hit, but it was to no avail. She eventually managed to catch Eerika offguard, she tried to turn back to attack Jeanne too soon after diving, her impatience showing. Jeanne scored hits on her, eliminating her.

Atsuko attacked hard to capitalize, but she was caught offguard. Jeanne knew she had her like a deer in the headlights and jinked strongly to hit her as well.

The only 512 witch remaining was Madoka, and she had two adversaries to face, Giovanna who she was in a heated dogfight with, and Jeanne who was too low to be any immediate threat.

While she and Giovanna were maneuvering, manipulating speed and energy, and pushing their strikers to, and past their limit to flank each other, Tui came to a sudden realization.

The two of them were simply impossibly gifted.

This was not a dogfight between a starstruck protégé and a stammering shy girl who rode her bike around all day; this was a dogfight between two demons. No striker could perform the maneuvers they pulled, let alone two relatively un-maneuverable ones. Jeanne simply could not climb fast enough to get involved in the conflict.

The battle went on for some time, everyone watching in complete silence. Even Tui was amazed.

Atsuko docked her striker quickly and stood next to Tui, who whispered a question to her.

"What kind of monster did you bring us, Akamatsu?"

"Oh… um… Sergeant Itou is so good that we simply don't let her dogfight with other cadets. Either me or Pilot Officer Yokokawa have to face her… and even then it's not an advantage"

Veronica then interrupted.

"The Race bike girl isn't half bad either"

Atsuko nodded, despite not knowing much about Giovanna, she felt proud of her as well. But her chest was swelling with pride for the display Madoka was giving, so much so, it outweighed her disappointment in own failure against Jeanne.

Madoka disappeared into the clouds after an especiall difficult energy turn to shake Giovanna.

Giovanna kept her distance, waiting for Madoka to pop up again, when shots were heard.

It was Madoka. The shots seemed to fly out of the clouds straight down. Nobody expected them to hit anything.

That was when Jeanne lifted her arm, seemingly in shock, and came back to land.

She landed heavily, discarding her striker, and standing a far distance from the crowd, her head bowed down.

Heinrike sighed. "She's taking it exactly as I expected. Atsuko, was that a lucky shot from Madoka?"

Atsuko looked at Heinrike "No… she's done it before…"

Heinrike's eyes widened. "how?"

"She memorizes the location of her target, hides in the clouds, tracks it in her head, and then fires. There's usually some spread, but it always hits"

Eerika grabbed onto Atsuko and asked her "did you teach her that, or Yokokawa?"

Atsuko shook her head and looked at Eerika, red faced "I can't even do it myself"

After dispatching Jeanne, she returned her focus to the Romagnan.

No one could see anything except the streaks of Green and Grey, the colours of their respective strikers.

It became more and more intense, until Giovanna seemed to over-extend herself, performing an extremely tight turn while pitching up. She simply lost all energy, and stalled, beginning to plummet.

Madoka took the opportunity to finish the battle.

Except it wasn't over.

The maneuver was simulated. Giovanna still had full control. When Madoka dove after her and fired, Giovanna rolled and banked hard, aiming at Madoka and firing.

What Giovanna didn't realize was that she completely misjudged Madoka's flightpath.

The Fuso witch did not fall for her trick; she kept her energy, approached her from the side, and fired at her with point blank shots.

Giovanna raised her hand, and looked demoralized.

* * *

Madoka did a couple of barrel rolls, smiling happily, she allowed herself to be proud of her victory. She closed her eyes, smiling to herself while approaching her landing. She was still too excited to land, so her flight path became more and more jittery as she approached the runway.

"Atsuko will be so proud of me" she thought to herself "She'll finally give me the praise I deserve. The technique I spent so many hours preparing worked like a charm"

While Madoka was pleased with herself, lost in her self-satisfaction and well deserved pride, she suddenly felt the force of a sudden impact, and felt her body scrape against something hard. She instinctively managed to protect her face with her hands, and felt the fabric of her navy uniform tear and burn out from the friction.

She had crashed onto the runway, completely unaware of her surroundings. She followed up a huge achievement with great embarassement. When she finally managed to stop, She just buried her face into her hands and wept out of embarrassment on the runway, while hearing the concerned voice of Akamatsu Atsuko asking about her wellbeing.

Elsewhere, Giovanna Ravelli did manage to land her striker unscathed, but the reception she received was somehow much worse.

She was face to face with Jeanne Offenberg who hardly even spoke a word to her, but simply stared her down.

Suddenly her failure to take down Madoka felt compounded. It felt a hundred times worse than it felt in the air. She had not only failed to hit Madoka but she also allowed her to take Jeanne. It was all her fault. It was Giovanna's fault.

She began to sink with those thoughts.

That was when she felt a hand clasp down on her shoulder. She recoiled before seeing a gently smiling Heinrike Falkenhausen looking down on her. Giovanna was still sinking and recoiling when Heinrike started speaking emphatically

"Well, that was unlucky, Ravelli but you did well. So did everyone. Just on the basis of the gap in equipment, lasting this long is an achievement. I'm proud of you all. Although, Jeanne…?"

Her inquisitive tone stopped Jeanne in her tracks

"You could've made much more use of Mika and Giovanna's cover. Leaving them out did hurt you a bit"

Jeanne looked back, stone faced, staring blankly

"We wouldn't need them if we had similar equipment" She said defiantly.

"Is that so? I've seen a witch take down many superior foes with a Hurricane. Equipment is important, but tactics matter. You had several opportunities to have the 512 at your mercy and you squandered them simply because you refused to use Zursk and Ravelli"

"My tactics were ideal, considering the situation and caliber of witch involved" Jeanne replied in a monotone voice that still failed to hide her annoyance.

"You say that… but based on flight, the best witch besides you among the 3rd was… well, it was Flying Officer Ravelli. That's just my opinion though"

With that, Heinrike took her hand off Giovanna's shoulder and walked off, leaving Jeanne to seethe at her words.

* * *

Itou Madoka was on her knees, she had gotten her striker off, and now sat, attempting to wipe her tears with her left sleeve, her right one burnt halfway up its length from the friction of her rather eventful landing. The robust J2M unit had managed to survive the impact, needing nothing more than a new coat of paint.

Akamatsu Atsuko was standing over her, petting her on the shoulder. Madoka could not stop crying, her embarrassment taking over completely.

Atsuko could not help but smile at the ridiculousness of what she was seeing. She started speaking to Madoka in a gentle voice

"That was a rough landing, Sergeant Itou. Are you ok?"

The younger witch still would not stop crying. Atsuko continued to pet her like a child.

"I hope you're not hurt. The striker seems fine. You did well"

She looked up from crying into her sleeve to look up at Atsuko, the tears still overflowing. The crying seemed to slow down

"You did very well, that was some excellent flying. We won because of you"

Madoka's eyes seemed to produce more tears, even though she was now smiling.

"Really? I did well? Did I please you, Officer Akamatsu?" Atsuko was asking, her eyes still overflowing with tears.

"Yes, everyone's very impressed. I'm proud to have trained you, but please… be careful. It'd be awful if you got hurt, especially in something as silly as landing"

On hearing that, Madoka sunk a little. Atsuko extended her hand, offering to help her protégé up. Madoka took it eagerly, looking up at Atsuko with worship in her eyes as she rose.

She stood for a second, while Atsuko helped her dry her tears. Madoka was calmed down, the embarrassment from her spectacular landing obviously dying down.

That was when Eerika's voice rung out.

"That shot was great! Can you do that all the time? Can you teach me?"

While talking to Madoka, Eerika seemed to lodge herself between the 2 Fuso witches, obviously closer to Atsuko than Madoka.

"How do you imagine positions so well? there was almost no spread. It was so cool"

As an experiment, Atsuko took a step backwards. Eerika took a step with her backwards, not failing to seem very interested in Madoka. On seeing this, Atsuko giggled, and so did Mika who wasn't far away.

Eerika seemed to notice, since she started to look around at both of them, with an air of self-awareness about her. She eventually backed off from the obviously awkward Madoka who was finally allowed by Tui to get a change of clothes after she'd burned her shirt.

* * *

Jeanne was alone, mulling over what happened. The 3rd squadron managed to get on even terms with the foreign witches, despite them having much better equipment, and by all rights she had the advantage towards the end. The little Fuso annoyed her, especially since she couldn't even land properly afterwards. She leaned against the wall in her room that she shared with Remy Van Lierde.

Remy walked in on her, as she was lost in thought, replaying every event in her mind like a film. She had seen every maneuver, every kill and every shot fired as it happened, and her tactical talent allowed her to visualize things clearly.

Remy knew to avoid her when she was so lost in thought, so she sat on her own bunk, giving her back to Jeanne, pretending to be busy disassembling and cleaning her sidearm. Her thoughts were not with her own activity though, but with the older witch who she feared for and was scared of.

"I won't bite, Remy" Jeanne spoke up.

Remy stopped what she was doing, placing the spring she had just taken out of her FN Model 1922 down on the small table. She didn't speak up, afraid of Jeanne.

"I don't blame you, or Victorique, or anyone for what happened. Not even the Romagnan. The had better weapons and strikers than us, and the Oriental got lucky with that shot from the clouds"

"we…." Remy started to speak, but quickly changed her mind "never mind…"

As she said that, she went back to cleaning her pistol.

"If you have something to say, Remy, say it" Jeanne replied, in a challenging tone.

"We would've won if the Karlslander and the Romagnan had covered us" Remy said, leaving the pistol aside, standing up and now looking directly at Jeanne

"well, that's what we expect of foreigners. They couldn't…"

"I mean if we allowed them to cover us, Jeanne" Remy snapped back, interrupting her.

Jeanne was silent. She picked up a pen that was on the table next to her, and started fidgeting with it, her eyes showing no emotion.

"We coordinate well, but if we had their cover from the start, we would've won before the engagement started. We might not even have lost Victorique and Francine. They're ultimately on our side, Jeanne, and…"

Remy was interrupted by the pen flying at the wall behind her. The impact was so strong that it shattered, and a part of it hit her in the back. She flinched slightly at the light sting of flying plastic.

Remy then regained her composure, quickly reconstructed her sidearm, the seconds it took her to do so feeling like hours, and left the room, slamming the door.

She then took a few steps, before collapsing to her knees, and weeping.

* * *

It was not a proper briefing, but Tui Gray managed to corner the entirety of the 512, and gave them an impromptu speech.

"Kia Ora, girls. Most the flying out there was sweet as, but we still have a ways to go"

Everyone looked at her in a state of surprise besides Crystal and Veronica who simply held their heads in their hands.

"She's speaking that weird dialect again" Veronica said

"Takes you back… and not in a good way" Crystal replied

"Now, this doesn't mean much. You don't have to take too much of a Squizz to see these girls are really Skinted. We still have a ways to go before they come around and don't think we just have gear that's in better nick" Tui went on

"Fearless leader just snapped" Veronica said in resignation

"No, it's much worse this time. The weird words have proper Britannian with them" Crystal replied

"Aren't you from the same place as she is?" Veronica asked Crystal

"There are places where you would get shot for saying Australis and Kiwiland are the same place, Veronica. Namely, Australis and Kiwiland"

Veronica laughed at Crystal's reply.

"Right, now if you all will excuse me, I've got things to do"

"Umm… where are you going?" Atsuko asked her, obviously confused at everything Tui had just said.

"up the boohai shooting pukeko's with a long-handled shovel" was the only reply Tui gave as she stormed off, leaving the entire 512 with their jaws agape.

After a few seconds of silence, Crystal and Veronica exploded into loud laughter, confusing their comrades even more.

"What the hell just happened?" Eerika was the first to speak up after the turmoil, looking in Veronica and Crystal's general direction.

After their laughter died down slightly, Veronica managed to answer the young Suomus.

"Well, Tui's been really stressed out as of late, between coming over, receiving command and orchestrating the dogfight. She tends to speak in her native dialect when stressed. It seems like after what happened this morning, she's not bothering to hide it anymore, and probably expects us to translate"

"So what did she say?" Eerika asked

Crystal provided the translation "Well, in short: 'you all did well, but we still have a ways to go before we earn their trust'. As to what she said after you asked her where she was going, Akamatsu. I've been asking her what that's meant for 4 years and I still have no idea"

That seemed to sate everyone's curiosity, and ego.

* * *

Tui walked into Heinrike's office, Agitated and jumpy. Out of respect for her former superior though, she spoke as civil as she could, even shedding her kiwi dialect.

"With all due respect, Captain, we proved nothing" Tui started speaking, in as calm a tone as she could.

"What makes you say that, Tui?" Heinrike replied

"You wanted to prove that their isolationist mentality was damning, and you wanted to turn Jeanne around. Well… It didn't work. They came close to being vindicated, and the 512 only won because Madoka is especially gifted"

"They realized they could've been dominant if they hadn't actively attempted to avoid Mika and Giovanna's cover. They're taking this worse than you think. And I know for a fact, that at least Francine and Victorique have been turned around. I suspect Remy as well, but she's afraid of Jeanne"

"Do you have any idea why Jeanne's like this?"

"Do you really need me to ask that, Tui? Command made horrible tactical decision after horrible tactical decision with this base. It should've been evacuated and everyone here added to the force in St. Trond back before Jeanne was even drafted. Instead, here she is, losing superior after superior. My predecessor had to be shipped to Neue Karlsland to recover. She'll probably never see combat again"

Tui went silent. The story was sadly too familiar with her, and Witches like Jeanne were sadly not an uncommon sight.

"I've managed to speak to Victorique. She asked me to congratulate Madoka on her behalf, and made me promise Jeanne wouldn't find out she did. I also know for a fact she managed to privately give Giovanna words of encouragement after her performance"

"That's encouraging but they're still scared of Jeanne"

"I'll be honest; I would be too if I served under a superior like her"

"Isn't she Flying officer? She's no higher rank than anyone else" Tui replied

"It doesn't work like that here. She's been around the most, and she's seen the most. Honestly, how she hasn't been promoted to a much higher rank already perplexes me. But I suspect the reason is political and has to do with her hatred of command, and of foreign witches"

At that moment, Fer walked in. She gave a halfhearted greeting before sitting at Heinrike's desk, while Tui and Heinrike were content to simply lean against it while talking. It gave the air of three friends meeting. It was obvious military decorum had no place in that office.

"Well, looks like it worked, Fer. Thanks to having the girls here, the Belgicans are coming around" Heinrike said to the Romagnan

"You mean thanks to you, it was your plan" Fer replied coldly.

"Well, it was their efforts"

"How long are you going to do the hard work while others take the credit. It's enough almost nobody gives you credit for the victory in Malta"

"Well, I wasn't…" Heinrike started to talk before being interrupted by Tui.

"I know! It's infuriating. I keep telling everyone it was because of Heinrike's system and plan, but every time, I see my name on the paper the next day and Heinrike a footnote at best. It's like I'm speaking to myself"

Fer was surprised at her tone

"Well, Tui I wasn't there when it happened so…"

"Oh don't you start too, Heinrike. All I had to do in the battle was carry out your plan. I could not, no matter how hard I tried to, form a better one. The only reason Malta isn't still covered by Neuroi right this second is you"

Heinrike just gave up and laughed.

Meanwhile Fer got up out of her desk, walked towards Tui and stood over her menacingly.

The two witches weren't very far apart in age, and were the same rank, but Fernandia stood nearly a full head taller than Tui. Tui actually had to strain her neck upwards to meet her eyes.

That was when the unthinkable happened.

Fer locked her arms around Tui's neck and pulled her in close. Tui suddenly found herself buried in Fernandia's chest, struggling to break free, attempting to ask Heinrike for help.

Her muffled shouts fell on deaf ears as Fernandia started to talk.

"Finally… Finally someone recognizes her hard work. Thank you, Tui. I had you all wrong; I know you'd never lie to me."

Tui continued to struggle nearly in vain, while Fernandia held her tight, and Heinrike laughed in the background. It seemed Fernandia returned to old habits.

* * *

Jeanne was alone again. The shattered bits of pen, and clear notch in an already ruined wall tortured her. She hated herself for what she did to Remy.

She had been aware for a long time that her bitterness was taking over her thoughts, but she still knew she could not forgive the witches of the world, or the commanders who deployed them. Here she was, in a decrepit base, using a striker that had been replaced 4 times, while other places got advanced strikers and enough witches to operate them.

Friends, seniors and comrades died because of that. Jeanne even found herself thinking of Remy with fear in her heart. Not even she was immune from what could happen.

The thought of losing her made Jeanne clutch her chest tight.

As her own mind was torturing her, a piercing sound brought her back to reality.

It was the air raid siren

She was still not used to it. The sound brought fear and desperation to her. She rushed down to the 3rd Squadron's hangar. Zursk and Ravelli had already donned their strikers. Victorique and Francine were right behind her. She managed to get to her spitfire and jump into it before Remy appeared. She worried. Remy was always fast to respond.

Heinrike was there, and she gave out instructions.

"It's a small 4 bomber formation. They're not headed for us, but further north, most likely Brugge…"

"So, let them. The St. Trond Witches can handle them"

Heinrike attempted to ignore Jeanne and talked on

"The 512 has elected to intercept, but we'll be on standby for them…"

"If they wanna fly to their deaths, let them. We don't need to mop up their messes"

"Interrupt me one more time, Offenberg and you'll be locked up in the brig for insubordination until one of us retires!" Heinrike snapped at her, scaring everyone in the hangar.

"You're all to be at your most attentive. If FL Gray calls, we answer. Any questions?"

Silence.

"Good"

And with that, She docked into her FW 190 as well, listening intently to her earpiece.

* * *

The 512 flew in their usual interception formation. A finger four of Tui, Veronica, Fernandia and Crystal flew up front, with Tui as flight lead and Fer as element lead.

A few lengths behind them were Sam, Mattia and Renee, with the youngest trio at the very back formed of Atsuko in the center with Eerika and Madoka either side. Being able to keep up with the European strikers was still a new feeling for her. She loved the Raiden for its ability to do so, and she imagined Madoka did as well. Eerika also looked unfamiliar using her sleek 109 striker rather than the big, bulky Buffalo.

The large Type Neurois were clearly visible. Rather disconcertingly, they didn't seem to have any escorts. Tui was the first to remark about this.

"No escorts. You know what that means" She said into the earpiece

"They were too dumb to bring any?" Eerika asked

"No, Lehtinen; Ambush" Veronica responded dryly.

"Akamatsu, Lag behind please, I'd like you, Itou and Lehtinen to provide cover if we get taken from behind"

"Roger" Atsuko replied, and with that powered down her striker slightly. Her two wing witches followed suit.

As they approached, Tui drifted slightly to the side, taking her entire finger four with her. Sam, leading the trio that followed her, took this as her cue and took aim with the massive 37mm that she still carried even after transferring from the Airacobra to the KingCobra striker.

Two shots rang out. One practically split the Large Neuroi apart. The other making it disintegrate into white dust.

"Second time lucky" Renee remarked.

"Luck had nothing to do with it and you know it" Sam replied.

"Sure, if it helps you sleep at night" Renee replied to her.

"Vodka helps me sleep at night, Renee" as Sam gave her her reply, she let out another shot. It didn't take her more than one shot to produce silver dust from the second Neuroi.

Atsuko was frantically looking around her; at the clouds, at the horizon behind them, ahead, everywhere she could. She could not see the expected Ambush of fighter types.

"Isn't this usually where every Neuroi and their mother fire their beams at me?" Sam was musing to herself.

"Don't jinx it and just keep firing" Mattia replied to her.

Sam loosed another 37mm round. It only succeded in crippling the Neuroi, and she had to fire another to destroy it.

"2 shots? Less vodka, more target practice, Rechkalov" It was Renee teasing her again.

"I have enough ammo to shoot you after I'm done with the Neuroi, you know" Sam replied, agitated.

The last remaining bomber type was firing at the Witches, but its beams were so weak and so few that Sam could deploy her shield while aiming at it.

Everyone's earpieces went off, throwing off Sam's aim for the final shot.

"Decoy! The bombers were a decoy. We're being attacked at Florennes! Everyone is scrambling"

Tui was petrified. She immediately ordered everyone to immediately turn back. It wasn't hard for Sam to make her shot before doubling back as well.

* * *

Jeanne was fuming.

The so-called elite 512 had scampered off to fight a measly 4 bombers with their large numbers and high tech strikers.

Worst of all, she had no idea where Remy was. She never managed to report to the hangar, and here they were sortieing without her. Jeanne felt naked without Remy by her side. She was the only witch she trusted by her side of late.

She begrudgingly allowed herself to fly alongside Heinrike. As much as she despised the foreigner who carrier herself so arrogantly as a commander, she had to conform to some cohesion or risk putting the belgicans in even more danger, and with Remy still on the ground. She felt she could not afford a single stray beam or Neuroi bomb.

The number of fighters they saw unsettled her a bit. She lost count after she made it to a dozen, and decided to just kill as many as she could.

With Heinrike there, and without Remy, she was forced out of her favorite Finger Four formation, and the formation was forced to fly in twos; Her and Heinrike, Francine and Victorique, ever inseparable, and the two foreigners, Ravelli and Mika together.

She cocked her FN model 1930, and took the safety off, preparing for the conflict.

Noticing them reminded her of Remy's words and how she told her to let them cover her. She instantly banished the thought. She still couldn't bring herself to relying on them.

The sound of Heinrike's 20mm rounds brought her to reality. She went head on with the Neuroi swarm, firing off a few shots before deploying her shield while continuing to streak forward.

She damaged a few but killed none. Jeanne cursed under her breath at Heinrike's inefficiency, but she was too destabilized to do any better so she simply deployed her shield and followed her.

Everyone did the same. Only one kill was scored, and it was Victorique, gaining a strike on the core of one Fighter type. Francine celebrated audibly, and it angered Jeanne slightly. There were still way too many to celebrate.

When they passed the Neuroi and began turning around, Jeanne understood why Heinrike was so hasty to go through the formation.

The fight became a huge turn fighting melee, and any shots fired were directed at the sky. Nearly nothing came close to Florennes, beams or Witches' bullets.

She begrudgingly felt thankfulness to the Karlslander. Her action kept Remy safe.

Out of the corner of her eye, Jeanne saw silver and heard the characteristic shattering sound of a Neuroi core being pierced. A quick glance revealed it was Mika and Giovanna's doing.

The numbers were being thinned at a reasonable pace. She knew the 512 were also on their way back, and would tip the scales in the Witches' favor.

At that moment, she saw Heinrike power down her striker drastically, allowing even the relatively very slow Spitfire she was using to overshoot her, and fired off her 20mm

A Fighter type disintegrated. When another launched its beam at Heinrike, she took the beam head on with her shield, before letting off a very short burst that ended that Neuroi's existence.

This sparked Jeanne's competitiveness. She pushed all her energy into her striker's engine, going full throttle. The speed was still not even close to the FW 190 or any of the 512's strikers, but for Jeanne, it was enough. She jinked between the Neuroi, letting off short bursts into them.

The caliber of her Model 1930 still wasn't big enough to destroy any of them but she did enough damage to severely affect their flight performance of the Neuroi she tagged.

She then turned around, surveyed the damage that she'd done, and sprayed 7.62 rounds.

Three Neuroi were reduced to silver dust.

"This is going rather well" she thought to herself, when immediately a beam streaked past her. When she turned around to retaliate, she heard a very loud bang, and saw the Neuroi shatter into silver dust.

It was the Orussian with the Liberion striker and the oversized gun. The 512 had finally made it.

In her entire time at Florennes, she'd never seen Witches outnumber Neuroi, and the sight put her at almost complete ease. Seeing a hail of 20mm, 7.7mm and .50cal rounds flying all over the place and Neuroi disappearing before them almost brought a tear to her eye. It was so easy when there were this many.

She actually did not need to interfere. Gray and the 512 were simply massacring the Neuroi effortlessly. She was seriously beginning to rethink herself on seeing that, realizing how stupid she looked constantly fighting with, and criticizing the foreigners. The desperation on their faces to make it back and help the Belgicans wasn't forced and was not simply out of a sense of duty. It suddenly dawned on her how strong these foreign witches actually were, and how much they cared.

With the sky almost completely covered in Neuroi dust, and with some of the younger witches even cheering, the battle looked to be over.

"The numbers are off. There's two unaccounted for" Heinrike shouted.

"It was a big melee. You might have missed them getting…" Francine was attempting to reply when Heinrike interrupted her.

"There! They were hiding in the clouds. They're diving on the second hangar"

Madoka, Atsuko and Eerika, since they were the lowest dived to intercept.

That was when Jeanne saw a sight that chilled her blood.

Remy was running towards the hangar, on the ground and unarmed, she was an easy target. When the Neuroi charged their beams, Jeanne let out an inhuman scream.

Remy dived into the hangar as one beam narrowly missed her. The other hit the archway of the hangar, collapsing it. It wasn't clear whether Remy dived past it, or whether the rubble fell on her.

Jeanne couldn't even bear to think of the result of the latter.

She dived, full throttle, with no regard for the abilities of her striker or even the tolerances of her own body. The outdated spitfire was coming apart. Jeanne could even feel one of the winglet threatening to snap off.

She didn't care. She could deploy her shield to absorb the impact with the ground. She had to make it to Remy.

And even with all that, the two Fuso girls outdived her, by a large margin, followed by the Suomus.

The three let loose their cannons. It wasn't clear who hit what, but both Neuroi disappeared. Like Jeanne, they both continued to dive, Clearly trying to push their strikers to the limit as well.

All three quickly discarded their strikers, and hurried to attempt to clear the rubble in a panic.

Jeanne tumbled behind them, one of the legs of her striker unit shattering. She quickly got up, obviously in pain. Her shield didn't absorb most the impact, since she didn't have the concentration to produce a robust enough shield.

She then limped towards the trio, pushing them out of the way, angrily.

Jeanne's familiar, a Belgian shepherd was still manifested in her, and she was overflowing with magic energy.

She punched her arm into the rubble, gaining a handhold, and pulled backwards and sideways with all the strength her body and magic could muster.

With that, she cleared much of the rubble away, before collapsing.

Under normal circumstances, she would have passed out. But her panic and fear kept her moving, with her vision blurring and the pain in one leg overwhelming. It was obvious she broke it.

She crawled up the rubble and through the gap she created, as she heard the other witches land behind her, and hastily discard heir strikers.

At the end of the rubble, she saw Remy, lying face forward. Propping herself up on her arms.

As she approached, Remy turned around slightly to face her. Her face showed some signs of pain, but still she managed to force a smile to Jeanne.

As Jeanne's vision and consciousness gave out, she saw Remy mouth out 'I'm ok. It was my fault. I'm ok'

And that's when everything went black. The last thought Jeanne had before collapsing next to Revy was

'no, it was mine'

* * *

Jeanne woke up in a comfortable bed. She smelled disinfectant. She knew this was the infirmary.

She remembered her leg being broken, but when she tried to move it, all she felt was a mild discomfort, not excruciating pain. It was almost completely healed.

She then remembered what happened before she passed out, and got up in a panic and cold sweat

She shouted almost at the top of her lungs "Remy! Where's Remy?!"

A groaning voice replied to her "I'm right here… too loud, Jeanne"

Jeanne looked next to her and saw her young comrade sleeping comfortably in the bed next to her.

"I'm ok, and so are you. Mika healed us both. Now let me get some more sleep" Remy said before turning the other way, and sleeping again.

Jeanne collapsed back into the bed, the relief almost overwhelming.

"Hey, Remy"

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. Everything was my fault. What I did to you in our room was unforgivable. You were right"

"Right about what?"

"It's not their fault. And even if it is, I'm just hurting us being how I am" Jeanne's voice was starting to break. "The reason is, Remy…. The reason is…" The tears were starting to stream down Jeanne's face. She wasn't bothering to fight them anymore "I just don't want to lose anyone any more. I know you haven't been here long, but I saw so many of my seniors…" That was when she started all out crying. "They're talented… They're well equipped… Couldn't command send us some of them? Couldn't they help us? Why did we have to lose so many. Seeing them kill the Neuroi so easily… It was painful, Remy" Jeanne was bawling now. Attempting to say what she wanted between sobs. "To think… because I upset you… you were late… and you almost…"

Jeanne was now lying on her back, sobbing loudly, her tears streaming down her face. She cried for a good few seconds before she felt a soft tissue gently wipe away her tears.

"Remy, you shouldn't be out…"

When she opened her eyes, she saw it wasn't Remy who was drying her eyes. It was Giovanna.

Jeanne embarrassedly sat up, trying to cover her face with the covers.

"Ravelli… I…"

She quickly did her best to regain her composure and make herself presentable.

"Why…? I was… How long have you been there?"

"Not long" Ravelli replied.

Ravelli then handed Jeanne the hankerchief which she used to dry her eyes some more.

"So, I'm guessing you don't hate me anymore?" Giovanna asked her.

Jeanne couldn't reply, but just blushed.

Giovanna waiting for a reply tried to meet Jeanne's eyes, bringing her face too close to hers.

This embarrassed Jeanne even further and led her to hit Giovanna on the head. As Giovanna reeled from the pain, Jeanne replied "No, no I don't. I never did"

"You could say that without hitting me!"

That was when Tui and Heinrike walked in together.

Seeing them both made Jeanne's heart sink. She was in no way prepared for what she needed to do. She didn't have an apology planned or worded.

"Oh, she's up? Good job, Ravelli" Heinrike exclaimed

"She hit me!" Giovanna whined to her superiors.

"She's healthy too? Wonderful job" Tui added

This angered Giovanna and led her to storm out.

"Good to see you in good health, Jeanne. We were worried" Tui continued.

"Well, sorry to bring you bad news so soon after your recovery, but your striker is completely trashed. But you're confined to the infirmary for a time for recovery so it might be for the best"

Jeanne lamented her stupidity.

"Is there no fixing it?" She asked Tui imploringly.

"Nope, that thing completely packed a sad"

"What?!" Jeanne asked, confused

"I think FL Gray means it's beyond repairing" Heinrike attempted to clear up "As such, you're getting a Spitfire Mk. IX delivered form Britannia as a replacement. We're trying to get two of them but… no promises, Remy"

"That's fine!" Remy said, as she sat up.

"We ARE planning on giving everyone newer strikers. Also, we might be getting another foreign witch from nearby. I hope you show her a better welcome than you showed me or the 512, Jeanne"

Jeanne went red in the face again.

She still couldn't bring herself to treating either her superiors as she now knew they should be. Too many demons still haunted her, but she knew she had to change.


	3. Chapter 3

Jeanne's recovery wasn't particularly slow, but it took too long for her to get back in the sky, considering a witch can't fly without her striker. To the outside observer, it seemed her attitude didn't change at all.

Changing her tune took longer than expected. She had said too much, and a lot of her demons were still unresolved, but silencing all her hostility and criticism, at least if unwarranted, was a massive step forward for her, and it instantly relaxed the entire base. The 512 and 3rd were already making massive strides to actually communicating and cooperating.

There were still some unresolved conflicts nonetheless.

Fernandia Minguzzi, of the 512 was in a massive shouting match with another Romagnan. Giovanna Ravelli was actually standing her ground this time, not shrinking away.

"Stop stealing parts for your stupid bike!" Fernandia was shouting.

"I'm not stealing! These parts are under the discretion of the 3rd squadron, and this is my patrol bike. My commanding officer didn't give me an order to stop so HERE" she followed up that statement by sticking out her tongue to Fernandia and mounting her bright red machine.

"Now, I have orders to patrol the perimeter of the airbase, if I may, Flight Lieutenant"

Her defiance led Fernandia to make way. She didn't exactly allow herself to feel defeated, but the bike issue was as of yet unaddressed and it was getting out of hand. Not only was the machine a waste of fuel and parts. She was also afraid it would affect the Morale of the 3rd Squadron and would perhaps lead Giovanna to be even more alienated.

As she watched her leave and ride to the perimeter to begin her rounds, she walked out to where Remy was standing and found her shielding eyes from the sun to look intently at the bright red machine, and her comrade who rode it.

Remy was studying the red blur as Giovanna skirted the outskirts of the base. Her riding was part skill, part brutality. It was a wonderful dance she put on as she navigated the terrain, alternating between going at full speed, floating on top of the mud, jumping as she went over every hump, brutally using her legs to kick at the terrain, wrangling the handlebars, moving the bike forward. It was a clear display of sublime skill, someone who had done it thousands of times and knew every intricacy of that art.

She was lost staring at her, studying her riding when Fernandia stood next to her.

"Remy, can I ask you something" Fernandia began asking Remy

Remy saluted seriously, and stood formally before Fernandia, even though her eye betrayed her, drifting to follow Giovanna

"What do you think of Giovanna and that bike?" Fer asked her.

"Ravelli? She's really skilled. Having her here is fun"

This made Fer's eyes widen

"Fun?"

Remy went on

"Yeah, considering who she is; having her here is fun. Jeanne disliked her because she thought she wasn't a good enough witch and well…. You know Jeanne and foreigners but well… we get to see her ride, which is a plus"

Fer was dead silent for a moment before asking

"What do you mean 'considering who she is'?"

Remy seemed to be shocked when Fer asked her this. "How do you not know that? And you're Romagnan!"

Fer just looked at her inquisitively

"Ravelli is well… she's a Motorcycle racing prodigy. She's won many races in Romagna. I think she's one of the best riders in Romagna. She'd still be winning races if she didn't join the Regia aeronautica"

Fer was taken aback by this "So… the 3rd ENJOY watching her ride?!"

Remy started looking side to side worriedly before almost whispering to Fer. "I've even seen Jeanne watch her from the window. She'll never admit it though"

Fer suddenly felt very embarrassed, realizing the girl who she constantly attacked for reducing morale was actually doing wonders for it, by giving her comrades entertainment through her riding.

She was even more embarrassed by not knowing a famous racer from her own country.

* * *

As Giovanna made her way around the base, she eventually made her way to the Western end. It was one of the more enjoyable sections of terrain, one that included several jumps and several ruts which she needed to use to navigate through a tree section. As soon as she found herself in clear plains, she allowed herself to look around, since she knew that was where the 512 were.

She saw a white uniform, and her rapid perception allowed her to recognize that it was Atsuko. She slammed on the brakes, and did a quarter turn to stop, facing her.

When she did, she saw that Atsuko had a horrified look on her face.

"What's wrong?" She asked her.

Atsuko then went from horrified to giggling, and pointed in front of her.

Eerika was standing some ways away. Her uniform was covered in mud, no doubt as a result of Giovanna's stop. She was also spitting pebbles.

Giovanna was in shock, and instantly started apologizing to the young Suomus while Eerika just stood there seething.

Eerika didn't say a word, but continued to stare at Ravelli as she sat on top of her bike, arms outstretched, begging Eerika to forgive her.

Eventually, Eerika managed to wipe the mud off her uniform, with the help of Atsuko and Ravelli. It was still far from presentable but it was an improvement.

"I've been watching you ride for some time. You seem very skilled" Atsuko began saying to Giovanna.

"Well, Cara's all I have. Riding like this is all that… It reminds me of my Dad" Giovanna's voice was trailing off as she said this.

"I remember you telling me… Cara, was it? ... that your Motorcycle was a gift from him"

"She is" Giovanna said "He… He died racing another bike. He had given me Cara some time before, but I didn't like his new bike. She wasn't nice like Cara. Cara's nice. She takes care of me, and she would've taken care of Dad"

Atsuko was slightly overwhelmed. She felt very sorry for Giovanna, and also felt awkward at how much she loved that bike and treated it like a person.

"I'm… I'm sorry" Atsuko said

"No, it's ok! I love riding. He taught me how to ride. I joined the Aeronautica to defend Romagna and make him proud!" She gave a very strong salute as she said that, setting her upper body upright as she still straddled the bright red machine.

"Well… I'm sure he'd be very proud of you. You're a good witch. I enjoyed watching you fight Madoka"

"I'll beat her next time! Just you wait and see!" Giovanna shouted

Atsuko smiled and saluted her. After saluting her back once more, Giovanna fired up the loud twin cylinder engine of her Moto Guzzi, that she named Cara and rode off, kicking up a lot of mud as she rocketed off, none of it sullying anyone's uniform this time.

Eerika continued to stare at Atsuko

"What… What is it, Eerika?" Atsuko asked almost scared

"Nothing" Eerika said as she walked off, leaving Atsuko looking puzzled

* * *

Giovanna continued to make her rounds of the base's perimeter. She knew she would soon find herself in the area of the base that was most secluded. She slowed down then, knowing this particular area deserved her attention most, since it was less frequented by other viewers.

Cara was easy to ride for Giovanna at high speed, but at low speed, her concentration needed to go up. The danger of her skinny wheels digging into the mud was ever present. It was also difficult for her to make good use of ruts by hitting them just right, forcing her to regrettably avoid them.

She tried to move her acute perception not just to the road ahead of her, but also to the forest on the base's outskirts and to the base itself.

She didn't find any intruders or anything out of the ordinary. She instead found something far more threatening.

Two people were sitting in what would normally be a completely private location, both wearing Belgican uniforms.

Giovanna recognized who they were and decided to give Cara the full beans to get out of there.

It took her just a split second too long to change gears though and what she dreaded happened.

"Giovanna! Hello!"

It was the older of the two girls, Victorique who called out to her. Giovanna knew Victorique's tendencies, and contemplated ignoring her and running off.

She knew it was no use. Victorique knew she noticed her. Ignoring her would be offensive, and Giovanna wasn't like that.

She shut down Cara's engine, and found a hard patch of ground to set her on, and waited for the inevitable.

It wasn't Victorique that worried her most though.

Victorique approached her, with the usual airheaded curiosity, and obliviousness to her surroundings.

"Oh, Giovanna! You're riding again? I'd really like it if you taught me how sometime" Victorique said

"Well… I'd like to but… I'm patrolling now, and… well, Fuel is a problem so… It might be hard until we get a big shipment and…"

Victorique looked deflated at that, but she showed no intention of backing off.

"Well, I'll still look forward to it" Victorique said as she started playing with Giovanna's hair, even taking out a handkerchief to wipe the dirt off the goggles that she had placed on her head like a headband.

Behind Victorique, Giovanna saw Francine seething, so much so that she scared her.

In response, Giovanna recoiled from Victorique, starting up her bike, trying not to appear too flustered.

"Well, I gotta keep going. Nice seeing you, Victorique and Francine"

And with that, Giovanna headed off. She had decided there was no need to stick around so she resumed her usual cruising speed.

Victorique then turned to Francine, looking disappointed. She started speaking to Francine, almost oblivious to her obvious state of discomfort. "Shame she had to go off. Very interesting that Romagnan"

Francine took a second before drawing a large breath and shouting emphatically

"Onee Sama is an idiot!" and leaving her to go sit back down and sulk.

* * *

'What's so interesting about her anyway?! All she can do is ride that stupid bike real fast' Francine was thinking to herself as she sulked away from Victorique. Her interest in foreign girls, including Giovanna, had been getting on her nerves. Francine told herself she had no quarrel with Giovanna herself, but why did Victorique have to just ignore her every time she showed up. As she trundled off alone, she found herself a quiet place, under one of the few trees in the airbase. She just decided to sit here.

On checking her pockets, she found a disc of chocolate she had been saving for a while, preserved in a tin box. She had been planning on saving it to share with Victorique, but she felt like she was down and needed cheering up.

As she was thinking what to do with it, she found herself being interrupted.

A very angry voice encroached on her short lived silence. It was obviously the sound of someone muttering to themselves.

"What's so special about bike girl anyway?! Atsuko's just being too nice. Who cares about some stupid bike and some stupid race?"

Francine recognized the uniform as Suomus. She then racked her memory to remember the witch's name but she could not piece it together.

As the Suomus witch was muttering, she was looking down, and in obvious rage, she bent down to pick up a stone and threw it.

When Francine recognized the trajectory of the stone, she dodged out of its way, realizing it was headed straight for her face.

It whizzed by harmlessly. "Hey! Watch what you're throwing that at!"

The young witch started apologizing profusely

"I'm sorry! I didn't get you did I?! I was just thinking…. And that Race bike girl! I'm sorry!"

Francine saw the sincerity in her apology, and decided to let it go

"It's alright, I didn't get hurt. And did you say bike girl? You're talking about Giovanna, right? Why'd she make you mad?"

"She keeps clinging to Atsuko! And I don't like it when Atsuko ignores me!"

Francine giggled to herself on hearing that. The young Suomus had helped her put her feelings and thoughts into a concrete form, and she was almost appreciative of it.

She was suddenly all too aware of the chocolate disc she carried, and realized an opportunity. She found an old low wall that was just the right height for her to sit down on, and called out to the Suomus.

"Hey, would you like some? We don't have much, but I've been saving this one"

The young witch's eyes went wide and for a second, Francine could swear she saw heart shapes forming in her eyes. "REALLY?! YOU SURE?!" The young witch sounded ecstatic, and it amused Francine to no end.

"So, you have a name, Suomus?" Francine asked her as she broke off half the disc, giving her new friend the bigger half

The Suomus witch attempted to say something but it ended up garbled as she stuffed her face with a big bite of chocolate.

Francine waited for her to swallow before asking her question again, humorously asking "wanna repeat that without stuffing your face with chocolate?"

"Eerika. Eerika Lehtnine, Suomus Lentolaivue and 512 JFW"

"Nice to meet you, Eerika. I'm Francine Auguste, 3rd Squadron of Belgican Air component"

"Oooh. I've heard of you, you're the one who loves that tall, pretty one. Was Victoria her name?"

Francine instantly went red in the face.

"D-d-d-don't say that so casually! What's wrong with you?! What about you?! I see you sticking like a puppy to that Fuso witch" Francine replied defiantly.

"Yeah, Atsuko's great. Wish she'd pay more attention to me though. I like Atsuko. She's really nice"

Francine was shocked at how casually Eerika said all that. She almost envied her how honest she was, and wished she could express her feelings as freely as she did. She watched Eerika wolf down the last of the chocolate while she herself was taking small dignified bites.

The chocolate wasn't wasted. She had made a new foreign friend.

* * *

Tui felt things were coming along smoothly.

512 and 3rd Squadron members were conversing a lot more. Supplies were on the way from Britannia, mostly because in her correspondence she used wording that made her look a lot angrier than she actually was.

Jeanne wasn't exactly friendly with the 512 but at least she no longer showed any hostility or attack, and being grounded because of recovery and because of missing a Striker both instilled a lot more humility in her.

Tui even managed to find time to idly admire Giovanna as she wrangled her bright red bike around the base. She could appreciate what was obviously the riding skill of a passionate expert rather than an amateur, despite her being so young.

The best news of all was the predicted arrival of a new member. Both she and Heinrike agreed it would make more sense for her to be attached to the 3rd Squadron, since it needed far more bolstering.

She was reading up on her file.

She was from Ostmark, a Flying Officer, same as Jeanne and the others, and her Striker was an IAR 80

Tui almost forgot the Dacians made strikers. And was annoyed to see the one she used was almost as outdated as what the 3rd were already saddled with.

The brevity of the information in her file worried Tui somewhat, it made her feel like there was more to her than what service record or Combat history could convey.

Eventually, Tui decided to stop worrying and wait until that time came. No matter what, things were on the up. All it needed was some coordination between her and Heinrike.

Thinking of Heinrike made her decide to visit the office of her old commanding officer.

Somehow, despite being far less opulent and far worse furnished, Tui much preferred the office Heinrike had in Belgica over the one she kept back in Comiso. The chair was leather, but it had cracks, and looked well past its sell-by date, and the desk, despite seeming to have excellent woodworking was scraped and damaged in many areas, and looked aged.

As Tui walked in, she saw Heinrike sitting at her desk, as upright and commanding looking as ever.

"Good evening, Captain" Tui started, addressing the Karlslander who sat before her.

"Good evening, Tui" Heinrike had formed a habit of being casual with the witch who replaced her, while Tui couldn't do the same. Both witches respected and admired each other, but the way they showed it was very different.

"So, Tui. Have you gone over the new arrival's file yet?" Heinrike asked

"Yes. There's a lot of numbers there, and they're good numbers. Somehow, I feel there's something about her the files won't show"

"There's a large probability that feeling is correct" Heinrike said "Witches who are sent here have a tendency of being…. Slightly coarse, in one way or another"

"We got sent here. We're not perfect but we're far from coarse"

"Even the 512, Tui. The reasons were there. You were a recently disbanded unit with one successful campaign. You each were scattered to the four winds, and each of you had little combat success after leaving the unit, including Atsuko who was pulled back to instruction duty. You were the right mix of capable and surplus. Same goes for Giovanna. By raw skill alone, she's fit to be 504, but her head isn't in the sky. It more often than not reverts to the ground and to two wheels"

Tui saw the sense in Heinrike's logic. They don't send incompetent witches to Florennes, but they send ones who aren't essential to their units.

"Anyway, Fer confiscated this from Sam today" Heinrike said as she held up a bottle of Vodka "Want to help me get rid of it?" Heinrike asked with a sly grin

Tui was shocked that Heinrike of all people would succumb to something like this.

"But… drunkenness on base" Tui said nervously

"I'll court-martial myself later" Heinrike said as she poured a glass for Tui

A few moments later, Fernandia Minguzzi stood outside Heinrike's office. She was surprised to hear singing and some crashing of wood on wood. It worried her and she forced the door open without knocking.

She was met with the sight of Heinrike Falkenhausen, holding a bottle of Orussian Vodka, while Tui was red faced, drunk and on the ground singing

"Gory, Gory What a helluva way to die…..

And he aint gonna jump no more!"

"Started without me, I see" Fer said to Heinrike. "How much have you both had?"

Heinrike seemed completely sober as she replied to Fer

"I've had half a cup. Tui has had this much"

Heinrike held up Tui's abandoned glass which seemed to be completely full

"That looks like it's still full" Fer remarked

"There was an extra sip" Heinrike replied.

"She's only had one sip?!"

"I think she was already drunk when she smelled it" Heinrike said, with a guilty expression on her face

"Hey! It'sh Fer! Why don'tch ya hug me too, Fer, Huh? How come it'sh jusht the little onesh?"

After Flight Lieutenant Tui Gray, commanding officer of the 512, and Ace of the Royal Britannian and Kiwiland Air forces passed out drunk in Heinrike's office, Heinrike and Fer decided to never allow the Kiwi near alcohol ever again, and to never speak of this incident, not even to each other, and especially not to Tui.

* * *

When lookout reported an approaching flying object, and Heinrike checked the scheduling, she knew what it meant. When they reported that it was neither Neuroi nor aircraft but a Witch was when she knew exactly what, or rather who it was.

The Witch landed on the runway at Florennes, which had been greatly improved since the 512 arrived. As she managed to stop her striker, she met with Heinrike and Jeanne, who had decided to use this as an opportunity to really overcome her prejudices.

The new witch wore an Ostmark uniform, and was using what appeared to be an old fashioned Striker. What truly set her apart was the weapon she carried, a massive Dutch built anti-material rifle. The gun looked close in size to even Sam's huge cannon, but was obviously of a smaller caliber.

Jeanne, in an excellent act of fortitude decided to salute her first. The words coming out of her mouth were mechanical, but she tried to put as much heart into them as she could

"I'm Flying Officer Jeanne Offenberg of the Belgican Air component, 3rd Squadron. I'd like to welcome you to the unit"

The witch saluted back, with a piercing stare into Jeanne's eyes and replied

"Flying Officer Iris von Edelweiss from Ostmark. Reporting for duty, Flying Officer Offenberg"

The two witches seemed at stalemate. For some reason, Heinrike saw fit to break it up.

"Hello, Flying Officer. I'm commanding officer of the squadron. You're welcome to our ranks. I'd like you to make yourself at home before reporting to my office for further instruction"

"Understood. I'm surprised Flying Officer Offenberg would gladly take orders from someone who isn't Belgican"

Jeanne froze in place. Every muscle in her body seemed to tense. It seemed to especially hurt her since she'd been making sincere efforts to reform.

"The Structure of the squadron is little of your concern, Iris besides knowing that you're to take orders from me. I strongly advise against such comments in the future. You'll find I'm not prone to ignoring anything twice"

Iris did not reply. She simply gave a wry smile, and the reasoning for her assignment to the 3rd was becoming obvious.

* * *

Iris's comment did more to Jeanne's confidence than she'd like to admit.

Eventually, the Ostmark witch was becoming a big part of Jeanne's thoughts, and not in a good way. She had just arrived at Florennes, and not even reported to Heinrike yet but she'd already made her hit on Jeanne and with so few words.

Heinrike's warning didn't help either, it was only a hit marker for her, a hole on the paper target.

Her gun seemed to hold a small part of the answer, it was an anti-material rifle, a marksman's weapon, a weapon which promotes using less shots to do maximum damage, a weapon where if there are too many bullet holes, you did it wrong.

It'd only make sense that she'd be the kind of person who would ruin your day with one wry comment.

It bothered her even more that that was the reputation she'd garnered, that of a xenophobe.

She decided to ignore her feelings for now. Retaliation was impossible, she decided to seek out Remy. Talking to her friend seemed to put her in a better mood.

Remy was in their room, cleaning out her pistol again, it made her remember her attitude before the incident that broke her striker, and it gave her a small pang of guilt.

The guilt went away when she saw Remy's face. The young Belgican was beaming when she saw Jeanne.

 _What did I ever do to deserve her as a friend?_ Jeanne thought to herself.

"So, meet the new girl? And were you nice to her?"

That stung. Even Remy didn't seem to trust Jeanne to be civil

"Yeah, met her. I tried to be nice, but… apparently my reputation precedes me"

Remy looked puzzled

"How come?"

"She asked how I could take orders from someone who isn't Belgican, when she met Heinrike"

Remy giggled, and that made Jeanne shout angrily

"I'm not that bad! I'm still a soldier!"

"Yeah but you really don't like girls who aren't from here"

Jeanne blushed, defeated "I AM trying to change you know"

"And you're doing a great job"

Remy got up, and got close to Jeanne, hugging the taller witch around the waist.

Jeanne was surprised at first, then held her friend close to her, patting her hair.

"I'm glad you don't hate the 512 anymore. They really respect you, y'know… Madoka was acting like she did the impossible when she shot you down"

"I never hated them, Remy. I hated what we were and that no one paid attention"

"Well, the Ostmark will come around. She'll know how great you are too"

* * *

Jeanne cursed her luck

Why did the Neuroi have to attack now? Why did they have to attack while she was still grounded?

Jeanne found herself running to the hangar. Instinct overpowered logic. The least she could do was see her friends off… Her friends in the 3rd, and her friends in the 512.

She was among the first there, if her spitfire wasn't in many pieces, she'd already be almost airborne.

In the near distance she saw the multi colored multinational strikers of the 512 in the sky. Here, in the 3rd's hangar, she saw Remy, Heinrike, Victorique, Francine, Mika and Giovanna all launching, all saluting her as they left, promising her they'd be safe, asking her to stay safe herself.

One witch was conspicuous in her absence.

"Where the hell is the Ostmark?!" Jeanne asked aloud to no one, angry and indignant.

She looked on the ground, outside of the hangar, she'd been informed of the protocol if the air raid siren went off. Jeanne knew Heinrike was probably angry as well, but professional as she was, she wasn't going to delay the takeoff while they wait.

The Dacian builr IAR-80 that Jeanne knew belonged to the Ostmark sat there, docked and discarded, so she certainly wasn't in the sky.

Tui was ahead of her squadron, leading the 512 into combat. Soon enough, she looked to the size, and saw Heinrike with the 3rd formed up behind her.

This was the first time both squadrons would truly start an engagement together.

It would be difficult for the two squadrons to coordinate, if Tui and Heinrike weren't as trusting of each other, and didn't know each other well enough that the 2 squadrons became one squadron with 2 commanders.

Most encounters between the 512 and Neuroi usually started with 37mm cannon shells flying at them from far distance, and Sam did not disappoint. On Tui's mark, one of the bomber-Type Neuroi disappeared.

There were more bombers though, and more fighters escorting them. To Atsuko's surprise, the entire third squadron went headlong into the Neuroi formation, starting a huge turnfight. Tui almost ignored them, choosing to climb, getting into an even flight every while, giving Sam the word to shoot another bomber type.

Atsuko found it ironic how she could no longer take part in the close turnfights that the 3rd was engaged in, her Raiden limiting her to vertical engagements.

Eventually, the order was given by Tui for the 512 to dive down and attack the Neuroi.

That was where it was lethal. The 3rd did very well keeping each other covered and surviving in the horizontal engagements, when the 512 dived down to assist. Sam and Renee were ordered to focus on the bombers while the rest of them were ordered to clear the 3rd of the threats they were engaged with.

It took no time for silver dust to fill the sky.

The entire formation was defeated, the Neuroi seemed to be gone.

Remy wished Jeanne could have been there to see how effective the squadrons were when they fought together.

That was when Heinrike's earpiece went off

"Three high speed types. They seem to have snuck under you. I'll use the Ostmark's Striker to engage them. She's still nowhere to be seen"

Heinrike told her to remain safe until they headed back, but the connection cut halfway.

The Belgicans were all in a state of extreme panic, the reality that Jeanne was on her own against three dangerous Neuroi terrified them.

The striker was unfamiliar to Jeanne, it wasn't fitted to her, and she hated everything about it.

It was better than her Spitfire but it was completely different to anything she was used to. Using it without testing it first was near suicide

If this was how she was going to die, using an Ostmark Witch's Dacian striker, fighting 3 Neuroi to defend herself and that witch, then so be it.

Jeanne let her familiar manifest and the magic flow through the Dacian striker.

As she exited the hangar, she saw the three Neuroi coming at her. They slowed down, and charged up their beams.

Jeanne wasn't off the ground yet. She invested all her energy into her shield, expecting the massive hit.

Using an unfamiliar striker heavily affected her magic energy so the resulting shield did not even look remotely big enough.

Jeanne heard 3 shots. Three cannon rounds. They were not Neuroi beams, they were Human weapons.

When Jeanne opened her eyes, she saw nothing but silver dust. Looking to the side, she saw Iris prone on the top of a building, her Solothurn in hand.

Jeanne knew she'd scored three perfect shots on the Neuroi, surprised at her marksmanship.

Her earpiece had been blaring. She decided to pay attention to it. It was Heinrike

"Yes, Captain. I'm okay. The Neuroi have been defeated… No, not me. It was the Ostmark… Understood. I'll tell her she's not off the hook… No, you did well. They snuck under you. We should've left someone back here. I'm sorry I wasn't useful. Thank you, Heinrike"

She then strode forward to where Iris was, after taking her striker off, and shouted to her

"Where were you?! You were needed out there"

"From where I'm seeing it, I was more needed here"

"You were fortunate"

"I was right"

"You're still getting punished for this"

"I know. I get brig time all the time. Is yours big? How often are the meals?" Iris seemed indifferent as she replied

Jeanne didn't have the patience to tell her they didn't have a proper brig, so she just left her and walked off.

Listening to her snigger made her blood boil. The fact was that she saved Jeanne's life, and Jeanne knew it too well.


End file.
